CANYON, Texas — A prizewinning musician will open the 2023 Grace Hamilton Piano Festival at West Texas A&M University.

Hsiang Tu—a prizewinner at the New Orleans International Piano Competition, the Iowa International Piano Competition, and the American Paderewski Piano Competition—will perform at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 24 in Mary Moody Northen Recital Hall on WT’s Canyon campus.

Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for non-WT students and free for festival participants and WT students, faculty and staff with a Buff Gold Card.

Tu’s concert will feature his carefully curated program “The Ivory Menagerie,” featuring works inspired by the animal kingdom.

“I have had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Tu perform on multiple occasions, and our community is in for a real treat,” said Dr. Sarah Rushing, assistant professor of piano and festival co-director. “His animal-themed program includes works ranging from Baroque to present day and is sure to be a delight to children and adults alike.”

And the concert is only part of the festival, which is at least 60 years old. In 2016, it was named for Hamilton, an influential area piano instructor who cofounded the Amarillo Symphony and was its first pianist.

More than 80 students from around the Panhandle and Eastern New Mexico perform throughout the day Feb. 25, concluding with an honors recital at 2 p.m. in the recital hall inside the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex

“Typically, piano playing is a solo endeavor; students spend hours perfecting their craft alone throughout the week,” Rushing said. “The festival gathers pianists together from all over the Panhandle and surrounding regions and aims to foster a collaborative atmosphere where students can interact as they work toward their common goal of advancing as musicians.”

Instructors also benefit from the festival, which will include a piano teachers’ workshop that features a masterclass by Tu and clinics on effective communication and piano technique.

Tu, a Juilliard-trained Taiwanese-American classical pianist, has been praised by The New York Times for his “eloquent sensitivity,” The Boston Intelligencer for his “impeccable technique,” and Fanfare for his “chameleon-like ability to move between composers.”

Click here to register for the workshop. To purchase tickets, visit wtamu.edu/music or call 806-651-2840.

Fostering an appreciation of the arts and meeting regional needs are key goals of the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.

That plan is fueled by the historic, $125 million One West comprehensive fundraising campaign. To date, the five-year campaign — which publicly launched in September 2021 — has raised about $120 million.