2024 Gilmore Piano Festival features 19 days of music!

We are thrilled to share the lineup for the 17th biennial Irving S. Gilmore International Piano Festival, comprising 19 days of music, with more than 100 events presented throughout southwest Michigan at a total of 26 venues.

“The Gilmore Piano Festival brings the world to Kalamazoo and the surrounding community,” says Executive and Artistic Director Pierre van der Westhuizen. 

More than 100 internationally-renowned artists will travel to Michigan, to perform solo and with other musicians, including five Michigan symphonies, making the total number of musicians top 200!

Highlights include the return of several Gilmore Artists, plus new works commissioned by The Gilmore. Guest artists include Patti LuPone, Hiromi, Yuja Wang, Pink Martini, Kenny Barron, Eliane Elias, and Gabriela Montero, who will also serve as an Artist-Teacher in Residence for the Festival Fellowships program, which hosts 27 pianists for five days of learning and Festival experiences. 

“Audiences will enjoy a diverse lineup of spectacular artists usually heard in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Berlin, Cape Town, or Tokyo – all during almost three weeks of unforgettable experiences,” said van der Westhuizen. “We are so fortunate to continue a legacy of hosting Gilmore Artists and Young Artists like Kirill Gerstein, Piotr Anderszewski, and Yuja Wang, along with jazz artists like Hiromi, Gerald Clayton, Isaiah J. Thompson, and fellow South African Nduduzo Makhathini, among many others.”

The Festival’s varied schedule is complemented by master classes, concert previews, on-stage conversations with performers, film screenings, regional concerts and recitals hosted by community partners. In partnership with Kalamazoo’s Farmers Alley Theatre, the schedule will also feature a collaborative production of Sondheim by Sondheim about the “father of the modern musical” Stephen Sondheim.

“Thanks to financial support from individuals, businesses, and foundations, several concerts will be offered for free or by donation, many offer reduced student tickets, and 13 concerts will be livestreamed on a name-your-own-price basis, greatly extending the audience reach of the Festival internationally,” said van der Westhuizen. 

Community involvement extends even further, with 200+ volunteers providing ushering, transportation, and office support before and during the festival. 

Fifteen artists or ensembles will make their Gilmore debut, as will four new compositions commissioned by The Gilmore by Matthew Aucoin, Christopher Cerrone, Gabriela Montero, and Conrad Tao – who will perform with dancer Caleb Teicher. 

More than a dozen concerts will be presented in collaboration with partners including five symphony orchestras: the Grand Rapids Symphony (in a pre-festival event featuring Jean-Yves Thibaudet on March 28), Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Jackson Symphony Orchestra, Lansing Symphony Orchestra, and Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra (Benton Harbor).

Three Gilmore Artists will return to perform: Piotr Anderszewski (2002), Ingrid Fliter (2006), and Kirill Gerstein (2010). Six Gilmore Young Artists will perform, including 2024 GYAs Kasey Shao and Harmony Zhu and 2022 GYAs Janice Carissa and Clayton Stephenson, 2012 GYA Conrad Tao, and 2006 GYA Yuja Wang .

Three public talks are scheduled by arts business guru Aubrey Bergauer, musician-activist Loki Karuna, and Kalamazoo-based poet and author Mark Nepo. The 2022 Gilmore Piano Festival was estimated to have a $4.3 million economic impact for the region. 

Tickets are on sale now for donors of $100 or more. Click here to become a donor today. Tickets go on sale for everyone on January 5, 2024. Purchase online at thegilmore.org, by phone at 269.250.6984, or in person at the Community Box Office, 359 S. Kalamazoo Mall.