The Big Event: The Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival

What helps keep Kalamazoo on the map artistically, pumps between $10 to $12 million into the local economy, draws an audience of 20,000 to 30,000 people and makes sure the community's fun level hits a crescendo on a regularly scheduled basis?

The Gilmore, or more properly, the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival. It happens every two years, with a new Gimore artist being named every other festival, and it brings to town some of the best pianists in the world, in classical, jazz and other musical genres.

This year, the music begins April 26 and runs through May 12 at venues across Southwest Michigan, from intimate settings like Stetson Chapel on the Kalamazoo College campus to bigger halls like Chenery Auditorium.

One of many anticipated musical highlights is the appearance by 1998 Gilmore Artist Leif Ove Andsnes, returning for the first time in six years. He appears with German baritone Matthias Goerne, who is making his festival premiere. Their program features the passionate songs of Mahler along with Shostakovich’s settings of the poetry of Michelangelo. Andsnes and Goerne will take this program to Carnegie Hall the following week, but Kalamazoo audiences will hear it first. The program is at 8 p.m. April 27 at Dalton Center Recital Hall on the WMU campus.

The 2006 Gilmore Artist Ingrid Fliter performs May 6 at Chenery Auditorium with the Gilmore Chamber Orchestra and 2010 Gilmore Artist Kirill Gerstien appears May 9 at the Dalton Center Recital Hall on the WMU campus. The 2010 Gilmore Artist’s CD release last year was singled out by critics as one of the 25 best recordings that year. Gerstein’s solo recital for the 2012 Festival includes a new work written for him by jazz pianist and composer, Brad Mehldau, as well as Schumann’s boisterous Carnaval. He also closes out the 2012 festival in the festival finale, an appearance with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra at Chenery.

In addition to 65 performances, the festival also offers master classes, films, and special events for families and children throughout its 18 day run. For a complete schedule, please check here.

Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Sources: The Gilmore, Discover Kalamazoo