Boston Piano Amateurs

01/11/2024

The Boston Piano Amateurs Association is now accepting applications for the 12th Boston International Piano Competition that will take place in June 2024. We look forward to welcoming 40 pianists from around the world to come and share their love of music with the audience. Further details and application procedure can be found on our website

Boston Piano Amateurs AssociationAdvancing classical music for amateur pianists in the greater Boston area For Soiree Information and CalendarClick EVENTS in the toolbar above PERFORMANCE OPPORTUNITIESOur monthly soirees provide performance opportunities for serious adult pianists. In addition we sc...

11/15/2022

Last Saturday night, the winner of the 10th Boston International Piano Competition in 2019, Yasuo Kurimoto, played a very enjoyable recital of music by Alexander Scriabin. The concert took place at Falcetti Pianos in Natick Massachusetts.

Dr. Kurimoto is a research opthalmologist who came over from Kobe Japan specially to play for us, the Boston Piano Amateurs Association and our guests. Falcetti Pianos had prepared a very nice performance space for us with a wonderful Bosendorfer concert grand piano. We had a full audience of around 50 people.

The program consisted of a selection of early works by Scriabin to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his birth: Etudes op 2 and 8, Preludes op 11 and 16, Sonatas 4 and 5 and two Poemes op. 32. Yasuo received a standing ovation and played a very nice piece for an encore: the Spruce Tree by Sibelius which I had never heard before, and had a nice melody.

Yasuo achieved the subtle textures and colors in Scriabin's music that created an ecstatic effect, especially in the 4th and 5th Sonatas.

It was really nice to see Yasuo again. He played in our very first competition in 2001 while he was doing a research degree in Boston for three years, and then came back and won our competition in 2019. Thank you very much for playing to us, thank you Falcetti Pianos for hosting the concert and for the Boston Piano Amateurs Association for arranging the concert.

After the concert, the Board of directors of the BPAA had a very nice dinner with Yasuo in a private function room of Legal Seafoods in Natick. It was a lovely evening.

03/09/2022

The Boston Piano Amateurs Association is now accepting applications for the 11th Boston International Piano Competition which will take place between June 1st and 5th at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge Massachusetts. We are accepting contestants on a first come first serve basis up to a maximum of 45 contestants. The deadline is on April 4th. We have vacancies available.
As in previous competitions, we will have a Gold Stream and a Silver Stream. The Gold stream will have 3 rounds and the Silver stream 2 rounds. The Silver stream is designed for those who would like to prepare less repertoire, approximately 30 minutes worth instead of 60 minutes.
We will award cash prizes and the Gold Stream winner will be invited to play a recital in Boston.
The competition will be judged by five distinguished concert pianists and teachers. We will have masterclasses, receptions and social events. The competition will be livestreamed.
The Edward M Pickman Concert Hall has excellent acoustics and the new Steinway D concert grand is wonderful.
Our competition is for those who are 30 years of age and over, who have a passion and love for playing the piano, but who have other professions. They do not derive their principal source of income from playing the piano or from teaching.
This competition will provide an excellent opportunity for those who will be playing in the Cliburn and other competitions later in the year to play through their repertoire and get some feedback on how it is coming across.
I do hope you will consider playing in our competition which is well organized and friendly. I'm sure you will have a good time. Further details are on our webpage www.bostonpianoamateurs.org

Boston Piano Amateurs AssociationAdvancing classical music for amateur pianists in the greater Boston area We are a nonprofit group of amateur pianists in the Boston areaWe provide performance opportunities, masterclasses, lectures, and workshops for adult amateur pianists of all levelsWe promote Bo...

01/24/2022

Calling all outstanding amateur pianists around the world! The eleventh Boston International Piano Competition will take place between Wednesday June 1st and Sunday June 5th this year at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge Massachusetts.

We would be delighted to have previous and new contestants taking part. The competition rounds will be in the Edward M Pickman Concert Hall which has an excellent Steinway D concert grand piano and wonderful acoustics.

As in our 2019 competition we will have a Gold Stream with 3 rounds and a Silver Stream with two rounds for those who prefer not to prepare as much repertoire. We will award cash prizes and the winner of the Gold Stream will be invited to give a recital in Boston.

We will have masterclasses and a reception at the beginning and end of the competition. After the welcoming reception Yasuo Kurimoto who won our 2019 competition will give a recital in the Pickman Hall.

We will webcast the competition so that friends and family members can watch your performances.

The jury will consist of five highly regarded concert pianists and professors of piano from the conservatories of Boston.

This year we will accept 45 pianists on a first come first serve basis. The minimum age is 30 years, as before.

Please tell your friends about our competition. I hope you will consider applying and I'm sure you will have a wonderful time, musically and socially. Our webpage is www.bostonpianoamateurs.org

10/17/2021

The 20th anniversary of Boston Piano Amateurs was celebrated yesterday with a group recital of 20 members, along with a master class and reception yesterday at the Methuen Music Hall. It was great to all be together again and share in some wonderful music, and to honor BPAA founder and president Robert Finley. Here’s to another 20 years!

10/15/2021

This year, 2021, the Boston Piano Amateurs Association is celebrating its 20th anniversary. We will be having a one-day festival on Saturday October 16th at the Music Hall in Methuen Massachusetts.
The festival will include a masterclass with Jonathan Bass, a marathon recital by BPAA members, and social events. We will be livestreaming the recital which starts at 1 pm Boston time, on the Boston Piano Amateurs page, on Facebook Live. Further details will be given later and on our webpage.
The last 20 years have gone quickly, and I can hardly believe time has flown as fast as it has. The idea of the having an amateur piano competition in Boston was discussed at the final dinner of the second International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in June 2000 in Fort Worth, Texas.
I sat at the table with the late Michael Hawley who at the time was a professor of the Media Laboratory at MIT in Cambridge MA. We agreed to meet during lunch. I had the meeting with him, and the next day I put an advertisement in the newspaper to find music lovers and pianists to form a committee,
I engaged an attorney to form a corporation and to file for a 501c3 non profit association. The Boston Piano Amateurs Association Inc. was founded early in 2001 and we arranged our first international piano competition in August 2001.
The first two rounds were at Boston Conservatory and the final round was at Sanders Theatre in Cambridge. we had 5 jurors: Michael Lewin (Chairman), John Bell Young, Norma Fisher (my former teacher who came over from London), Janice Weber and Marianna Rashkovetsky. The competition was won by Victor Alexeeff. We had 33 contestants from all over the USA, Canada and Japan.
The first competition was so successful that we arranged our 2nd competition in 2003 and every two years except in 2021 due to Covid. Our next one will be in June 2022.
In addition to the competitions, we arrange monthly "soirees" (informal recitals before a small audience followed by refreshments), masterclasses, recitals, lectures, workshops and festivals. Our organization is well known and highly thought of around the world, and it attracts contestants from as far away as China, Japan, Australia and Russia.
I have had some wonderful experiences as a result of forming the BPAA. I've met some outstanding pianists both in the professional and amateur music world, and made many friends. I have played in competitions and festivals all around the world, and served on the jury of other competitions.
The music making has inspired me to play better and better, and has enriched my life. Many people have told me that this has changed their lives too. I could write a book about my experiences as President and Founder of the BPAA. Maybe I will.
I hope the BPAA will continue and thrive for the next 20 years. I am extremely grateful for the work and support of my committee and would like to thank them very much for all they have done to make the Association the great success it is.

02/27/2021

Events: Sunday March 14th at 2:30 pm EST

Musical Mindfulness at the Piano: A Somatic Approach.

What is a somatic approach to piano playing and how can it help improve pianists’ musicality and technique across the piano repertoire?

In this one-hour Zoom lecture, renowned expert Alan Fraser will introduce participants to the topic of somatics and share his insights on movement-body structures that help pianists produce a singing tone, greater nuance, more power, more dexterity, and more emotional expression at the piano. After viewing short video clips that interactively illustrate Fraser’s ideas with beginning, intermediate, and advanced amateur pianists, participants will leave with a better understanding of how to successfully connect motion to sound and how to approach their own repertoire with greater agility, sensitivity, and capability.

Registration Process

BPAA members: Free
Please email [email protected] no later than February 28.

Non-BPAA members: $15
Please email attendee name to [email protected] no later than February 28.

Payment:
Paypal (preferred)

or Check payable to BPAA sent to:
Robert Finley
25 Tomahawk Drive
Northborough, MA 01532
Please include the email address to which you would like the Zoom link sent.

Registrants will receive the Zoom link by email.

​Alan Fraser Bio
One of the leading experts in piano somatics today, Alan Fraser has authored five books on the topic, presented his ideas at numerous international music conferences, written multiple journal articles that contribute to the field, and directed many piano institutes within North America, Europe, and Asia, all of
which integrate and rejuvenate traditions of piano technique and musicianship within a somatic approach.
In addition, he has organized and continually updates a world-class website alanfraserinstitute.com that offers pianists a wealth of videos, performances, tutorials, lectures, and lessons on varied piano repertoire which they can use to improve their own piano playing at their own pace. Beginning and intermediate (“Alan helped me improve my playing from mediocre to something with artistic merit”), advanced (“he showed me how my hand structure could deepen my sound”), and concert pianists (“my work with Alan Fraser still feeds me today”) have all benefited from his approach. Closer to home, in 2015, Alan also helped coach Michael Cheung to his first-prize win in the BPAA 2015 Boston International Piano Competition.

06/08/2019

Congratulations to all the Gold and Silver stream ! We look forward to celebrating with you when the final round of and open ends at 5pm. A huge to all the audience members who came out to support our at the Longy School of Music of Bard College. We hope you enjoyed their incredible performances as much as we did.

Please note that our final awards ceremony and reception is closed to the public.

06/08/2019

It's your last chance to enjoy a on a Steinway & Sons from the best pianists in the world! Gold Stream finals start this afternoon at the Longy School of Music of Bard College Pickman Hall! Check out the full schedule online at www.bostonpianoamateurs.org.

06/07/2019

We like to meet our where they are, so we offer Silver and Gold streams. This way, competitors can decide whether to perform 30 or 60 minutes of .

Don`t miss the Silver Stream finals and Gold Stream semi-finals today from 12:15pm - 8:30pm in the Longy School of Music of Bard College Pickman Hall! It's and open to the public.

06/06/2019

Instead of , how about some to perk up your afternoon? Stop by the Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts for a concert. All rounds of both the Gold and Silver streams are open to the public.

For a full schedule, visit www.bostonpianoamateurs.org. Seating is open. No reservations are required.

The Boston Piano Amateur Association is dedicated to promoting classical piano music and amateur performances worldwide.