PianoPalooza!

Festival of Young Pianists

Competitions • Masterclasses • Performances

Saturday, March 20, 2027, Beginning at 9am

SCF Performing Arts, 11A (Click to see map)

PianoPalooza! brings together young pianists, teachers, and music lovers for a day of learning, performance, and musical achievement. Presented by SCF Music in partnership with the Sarasota Music Conservatory, the festival features middle school and high school scholarship competitions, masterclasses with college faculty, and recital opportunities that celebrate pianists at every stage of development.

Competition participation requires registration and a fee. Masterclasses and recitals are free and open to the public.

Schedule

Full schedule and registration information available January 2027.

About Masterclasses

Why Masterclasses Matter (Even More Than You Think!)

A masterclass is when a teacher works with one student while everyone else watches and listens.

While performing in a masterclass is valuable, watching can actually be even more powerful.

When you observe, you get something students almost never experience: You get to watch someone else take a lesson.

You hear:

How a teacher solves problems in real time
How musical ideas are shaped and refined
How technique and interpretation come together
How different students approach different pieces

You are not limited to your own repertoire. Instead of learning one piece deeply, you get insight into many pieces at once. You see common challenges, creative solutions, and new ways of thinking about music.

Most students are surprised to discover how much they grow simply by listening carefully and thinking actively.

In many ways, observing a masterclass gives you a broader education than playing alone. Take advantage of this rare opportunity.

Masteclass signup

Students may sign up to play for masterclasses beginning at 9am the day of the festival.

The masterclass teachers will select pieces with which to work the morning of the masterclass. They will base their choices on a variety of repertoire levels, styles, and techniques. There is limited time so a limited number of pieces will be selected to work, but rest assured everyone in attendance will benefit from hearing a variety of works.

Masterclasses are sponsored by SCFMusic, and are free and open to the public!

Fernando Lopez

Mexican-born pianist Fernando Lopez began his piano studies with Omar Salazar, University of Sonora, at age 7. Early in his career, Mr. Lopez was the recipient of an artist grant from the government of Sonora, Mexico. Mr. Lopez holds performance as well as pedagogy degrees from the University of Arizona and the University of South Florida. His primary teachers include Pedro Vega, Tannis Gibson, and Svetozar Ivanov.

As a soloist, has participated in various music festivals such as the Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina, the Piano Academy & Festival International in St. Andrews, Canada, and the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Piobbico, Italy. Additionally, Mr. Lopez is an active collaborative pianist, and organizes events and small venue concerts for piano, chamber ensembles, and opera favorites.

Currently, Mr. Lopez is an adjunct faculty at State College of Florida, teaching class piano and applied piano. He is co-founder of the Winold Music Festival, a chamber music festival for young artist in the Tampa Bay Area.

Mr. Lopez’s unique adaptive pedagogical approach and style is rooted in a deep understanding of sound production through strong foundational technique, notational literacy and fluency, and multi-level theory building blocks. Mr. Lopez enjoys a large private studio in Tampa, Florida.

DR. AGNIESZKA ZICK

Agnieszka Zick is a Polish-born pianist and educator. She performs as a soloist, chamber, and orchestra musician. Recently she has been a featured soloist with The Florida Wind Band in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. She performs regularly with a chamber group Amici Musicali in Tampa Bay area, and in 2017 she toured her native Poland (Poznań, Łódź, and Warsaw). Zick also enjoys collaborating as an orchestra pianist (Chautauqua Music Festival Symphony Orchestra, USF Symphony Orchestra, Life Sciences Orchestra, and The Florida Wind Band). Festival appearances include the Chautauqua Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Wiener Meisterkurse, Zakopane Academy of Art, Summer Music Academy in Kraków, and International Master Courses in Zamość and Białystok in Poland.

Zick maintains a keen interest in contemporary repertoire. She has worked with composers Louis Andriessen, David del Tredici, Augusta Read Thomas, and David Liptak. She commissioned works by Tyler Kline and Roger Zare.

In addition to performing, Zick is passionate about piano pedagogy. She was active in the Music Teachers National Association in Florida and Michigan (president of the University of Michigan MTNA Collegiate Chapter). Zick adjudicated several regional competitions and presented for the Oakland Teachers Piano Guild, Michigan. Conferences presentation include Michigan Music Teachers Association State Conference, Piano Pedagogy Symposium in Ohio, and Ann Arbor Teachers Guild.

Agnieszka Zick holds degrees from the F. Chopin Academy of Music, Warsaw, Poland, the University of South Florida (Piano Performance; Chamber Music), and a DMA in Piano Pedagogy and Performance from the University of Michigan. Zick was on a faculty at Eckerd College, Schoolcraft College Piano Academy, and as a sabbatical replacement at the University of South Florida. Currently, she is a Piano Instructor at Berkley Preparatory School – Music Conservatory, and a pianist at Bayshore Baptist Church. Zick is a recipient of the 2018 Hillsborough County Professional Development Artist Grant. She is currently an adjunct teacher of piano at the State College of Florida.

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