TO: Pianist-Partners Everywhere
FROM: CollabFest Artistic Director
SUBJECT: A love note to Collaborators in the time of Corona*, with invitations for you (read on…)
May 2020
Dear ones,
I hope each of you is surviving and thriving in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic. What a challenging time for our world! My thoughts are with you.
In light of this current situation, CollabFest 2020 will be a virtual conference, still held (mostly synchronously) October 15-17. We are recalibrating with enthusiasm, and we are eager to take full advantage of the potential this new format offers.
I am thrilled to announce that Warren Jones and Kevin Fitz-Gerald will lead our faculty, and that many others will join them….
(CollabFest at Manhattan School of Music will be transposed to fall 2021, so stay tuned for that, and we’re thrilled to offer our first East Coast event there.)
For our 2020 event, we welcome your submissions for topics and presentations via email at collabfest@unt.edu. There will also be performance opportunities; information regarding these will be posted shortly, so please come back and visit…
But wait… there’s more!
Many summer programs are offering fabulous online experiences. SongFest and the Collaborative Piano Institute come to mind, and I know there are many others…
Let me add another option for you, with a personal invitation for you to join us:
Collaborators in the Time of COVID.
This is a fully interactive CollabFest initiative and we need YOU, your insights, perspectives and questions.
We will meet on Fridays (noon CST is the preliminary plan) for 60-90 minute interactive sessions with master teachers and professionals from throughout the country to discuss topics and hold sessions that you will suggest. This is anticipated to run until September, but may continue after that.
There is no cost and no obligation. Come when and as you’d like. It is our gift – and the gift of the masters who will meet with us – to you at this time, given with the intent of keeping us all connected and thriving in this new circumstance. We are committed to doing all we can to nurture our collaborative community, now more than ever.
To join in the zoom sessions, just email collabfest@unt.edu with “COVID Collabs” in the subject box, and we will add you to our list. That’s it!
We are planning to also post sessions (complete or edited on a case by case basis) after the fact, so if the timing doesn’t work out you can still be part of this.
Your suggestions and requests for topics are welcome.
We will begin June 12 and see where this takes us.
(Oh, yes… also stay tuned for information about IKCAS - the International Keyboard Collaborative Arts Society - which will begin its inaugural year this October.)
Wishing each and every one who reads this health, happiness and connection!
Collaboratively yours,
Elvia Puccinelli, Artistic Director, CollabFest
*with apologies to Gabriel García Márquez