Information and Registration
1 p.m., Sunday, February 23, 2025
Salisbury House & Gardens (4025 Tonawanda Drive, Des Moines IA 50312)
Presented by: Mobile Music Lessons
Sponsored by: Museum of Danish America, Salisbury House & Gardens, West Music Des Moines Piano Gallery
Thank you for your interest in the 2025 Des Moines Area Piano Festival, a professionally-adjudicated performance opportunity for students in a friendly, welcoming environment.
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About the Festival:
The fifth annual Festival will be held at 1 p.m. on Sunday, February 23, 2025 at the Salisbury House & Gardens. Pianists in grades K-12 from the Des Moines metro area (Des Moines and all surrounding suburbs) are invited to participate. The Victor Borge Legacy Award Competition will be held in conjunction with the Des Moines Area Piano Festival. Total 2025 participants will be capped at 54. In the case of inclement weather, the Festival may switch to a virtual platform.
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Approximate Schedule:
1-3:15 p.m.: Auditions (including Victor Borge Legacy Award auditions)
3:30-4 p.m.: Master Class with Dr. Mei-Hsuan Huang
4-4:30 p.m.: Seminar with Dr. Marion Scott
4:30 p.m.: Announcement of the winners of the Victor Borge Legacy Award
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Entrance:
To register, please complete the following steps:
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1. Fill out the registration form.
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2. Pay the $40 registration fee (payable at tinyurl.com/DSMPianoFestival or via the link on the registration form). The registration fee includes an audition on a Steinway piano, adjudication scoring/comments and a participation ribbon, and access to the seminars by the adjudicators. The registration form and payment must be received by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, February 14 before a student is registered to participate in the 2025 Des Moines Area Piano Festival and/or the Victor Borge Legacy Award Competition. Participants will be notified of their audition time by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, February 17. All performance times are final and no refunds will be offered.
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Audition Information:
Please arrive early for your assigned audition time and enter and exit quietly to respect fellow participants.
Respectable decorum is expected from all Festival participants, families and instructors. Individuals that do not display respectable decorum will be asked to leave, and refunds will not be granted.
You are welcome to stay and listen to others' auditions. All are encouraged to stay for the seminars (see schedule above). All entrants should bring their score (with measures numbered) to the audition.
Memorization:
Memorization is required for participants in the Victor Borge Legacy Award Competition, as winners must perform memorized in a future winners' recital (Sunday, April 27, 2025) and memorization is a critical component of professional piano careers.
Memorization is not required for the regular division of the Festival, although it will be part of the adjudication criteria. Entrants that do not memorize their pieces should still bring a score with numbered measures to the audition.
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Adjudication Criteria & Evaluation:
All participants will be evaluated by a professional adjudicator and will receive a rating, comments and a participation ribbon corresponding to their score. Each student will begin with a technical exercise (below) and then perform a piece that showcases the student's current playing level.
Each audition is a maximum of five minutes total per student (including technique, for the regular and Victor Borge divisions; auditions are limited to one piece). Memorization is not required for the regular division, although memorization is part of the adjudication criteria, which may be viewed here. Memorization is required for both the technical and repertoire components of the Victor Borge portion. The rating and comments will be sent to the student's instructor shortly after the Festival.
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Technical Exercise Requirements:
Please consult with your student's instructor regarding your student's current playing level. Scales and cadence patterns are to be in the key of the audition piece and memorized if competing in the Victor Borge Legacy Award Competition. The audition will progress in the following order: scale, cadence pattern, audition piece.
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Beginner: Play a one-octave scale and a I-V7-I cadence pattern with both hands (chords may be simplified).
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Intermediate: Play a two-octave scale and a I-IV-I-V7-I cadence pattern with both hands.
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Advanced: Play a four-octave scale and a I-IV-I-V7-I cadence pattern with both hands.
Victor Borge Legacy Award Competition:
If the participating Piano Festival entrant is at an advanced playing level and in grades 8-12, they are invited to participate in the Victor Borge Legacy Award Competition at the 2025 Des Moines Area Piano Festival. No additional repertoire is required, and the student will be adjudicated as part of his/her Piano Festival audition. Victor Borge entrants must memorize their technical exercises and repertoire piece (limited to one piece).
Previous second place Victor Borge Legacy Award winners are eligible to enter; previous first place Legacy Award winners are ineligible to enter. First and second place winners will receive an award of $1,000 and $500, respectively, which will be given to the winners after they perform at least two memorized, classical pieces (10 minutes total) in a recital (Sunday, April 27, 2025) on the Victor Borge piano at the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn, Iowa. Failure to perform in the recital will result in forfeiting the award money. In addition, winners will submit a 500-word essay about the legacy of Victor Borge (by TBD April 2025), which will be judged by a panel that includes Borge's daughter, Janet Borge Crowle, for an additional $500 cash prize.
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Funding for the Victor Borge Legacy Award is provided through a generous gift from R. James and Janet Borge Crowle, Saint Michaels, Maryland. Additional support provided by the Charles W. and Norma J. Wilson Foundation and the Eric & Joan Norgaard Charitable Trust.
Questions:
With questions, please email Des Moines Area Piano Festival Director Sophia S. Ahmad at sophia@mobilemusiclessons.com or Managing Director Mimi Beringer at mimi@mobilemusiclessons.com.
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Follow @DSMPianoFestival:
2025 Adjudicators
Dr. Marion Scott
Adjudicator, Victor Borge Legacy Award
Dr. Marion Wilkinson Scott made his debut at the age of 14 under the baton of Roger Nuremberg. In 2006, his musicality and technical prowess earned first prize at the Thousand Islands International Piano Competition and second prize at the Zimmerli Foundation International Piano Competition. Dr. Scott was also named the winner of the 2010 International Piano Competition hosted by the Steinway Society of Massachusetts. He has given concerts both nationally and internationally.
In addition to solo performance, Dr. Scott is an enthusiast for chamber music playing and has performed in noted concert halls such as Carnegie Hall, Kilbourn Hall, and Crouse Hall. He has also performed at Music Festivals such as the Brevard Music Festival, the renowned Pianofest in the Hamptons, and the Joseph Gingold Chamber Music Festival among others. He actively performs with his wife, Rosa Villar-Córdova Scott, as a piano duo.
Dr. Scott holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in performance from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music Degree from the Juilliard School and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the Frost School of Music. He is currently the Music Director at St. Augustin Catholic Church in Des Moines, Iowa.
Dr. Mei-Hsuan Huang
Adjudicator, Des Moines Area Piano Festival
Pianist Mei-Hsuan Huang is Associate Professor of Piano at Iowa State University and a member of the Ames Piano Quartet.
​Huang has been a prizewinner in several international piano competitions, including the USASU International Piano Competition in Tempe, Arizona, the 57th Wideman Piano Concerto Competition in Shreveport, Louisiana, and the International Chopin Piano Competition in Taipei, Taiwan. She regularly performs over fifty solo and chamber recitals every year in Europe, States, Canada and Taiwan. She has been invited to summer festivals including the 2006 Aspen Music Festival, the 2007 Pianofest in the East Hamptons, the 2008 Orford Music Festival, Quebec, the 2010 Atlantic Music Festival in Maine, the 2012 CICA Eureka Springs International Music Festival in Arkansas, the 2012 and 2013 Banff Music Festival in Alberta, and 2023 International Summer Music School Pucisca Festival in Croatia. Festivals increasingly ask for her presence on their artist rosters. Recently, Huang also was presented in a piano recital in National Taiwan Concert Hall (Taipei), as a result of being nominated for the prize of “Excellent Musician Series” by ProArtist. She also gave a sold out concert (Chamber Label Management) in 2017 at National Taiwan Concert Hall and TaiChung Opera House.
In 2013, Huang performed George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Central Iowa Symphony, Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto with the Iowa State University Orchestra, and Camille Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals with the Des Moines Symphony. In 2017, she performed Bach’s F Minor Keyboard Concerto and numerous chamber concerts with the Caroga Lake Chamber Orchestra in New York and Switzerland. Huang has travelled with the Amara Quartet to perform at the Colours of Music Festival in Barrie, Ontario and on concert series in Illinois, Virginia, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas. The quartet released compact disc on the Fleur de Son label in 2016, a recording of all American quartets. The quartet released compact disc on the Fleur de Son label in 2018 including both Faure Piano Quartets. Huang was recently invited to perform Beethoven's Concerto No. 5 "Emperor" with the Central Iowa Symphony and Iowa State University Orchestra. The Boston Musical Intelligencer described Huang’s performance “thrillingly indefatigable” [with] “irresistible energy.”
Besides performing, Huang is dedicated and passionate about teaching. She maintains a strong studio in Ames, IA where she teaches a select number of high school students along with her University students. Students of Huang have won and placed in numerous regional and local competitions, including Fort Dodge Concerto Competition, Central Iowa Young Artist Competition, Terrace Hill Piano Competition, Iowa State Fair Talented Show, Iowa Teacher Music Association (IMTA) competition and Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) competition. Her students has received full scholarship to prestigious school including The Juilliard School of Music and New England Conservatory.
Huang received her bachelors degree at The National Taiwan Normal University, where, she won the prestigious Xing Tang Temple Piano Competition Prize. She received her masters degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Sergei Babayan, Margarita Shevchenko, and Paul Schenly. She received her doctorate of musical arts degree at The Ohio State University under full-scholarship.
Huang is on piano faculty at The Atlantic Music Festival in Maine and guest pianist at Caroga Music Festival in New York during the summer.
Huang was named a Steinway & Sons Artist since 2014. She is also the recipient of 2019 Steinway Top Teacher Award and 2021 Steinway Teacher Hall of Fame. Visit her website at meihsuanhuang.com