With the GRADUS International Piano Academy, a new program for excellence promotion at the Mainz University of Music is being launched this year, initiated by piano professor Sae-Nal Lea Kim. The first edition of the master class will take place from May 1 to 4 at the Landesmusikakademie RLP. Five talented, emerging pianists at the beginning of their careers have received scholarships for participation - one of them comes from the piano department of the Mainz University of Music. The master class is open to the public. Interested listeners are warmly welcome. A special highlight of the academy is the GRADUS Mainz Soloist Prize. This prize can be awarded to an outstanding scholarship holder and offers the exceptional opportunity to perform as a soloist with the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz.
Concert venues include the Garden Hall of Schloss Engers, the Mirror Hall of Burg Namedy, and the Boosenburg in Rüdesheim. For the audience, this means three very different concert evenings featuring the scholarship holders and the mentor of this year's academy, Prof. Bernd Goetzke, one of the most sought-after piano educators in the German-speaking world - two of which take place in the regional area of the academy. As part of the concerts, listeners can also expect discussions about the works, the academy concept, and the demands on emerging pianists.

FR | 02.05. | 19:30 | Opening Concert | Garden Hall of Schloss Engers
The five scholarship holders will present themselves solo in the concert.
SA | 03.05 | 18:00 | Academy Concert I | Boosenburg Rüdesheim - Weingut Jung
Two scholarship holders will collaborate to create a concert evening.
SO | 04.05. | 17:00 | Academy Concert II - Homage to Music | Burg Namedy, Andernach
Three scholarship holders will perform Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 and Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1. The musicians will be accompanied by the Chiarina Quartet and Wolfgang Güntner (double bass), all members of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz.

Together with the GRADUS team, the artistic director Univ.-Prof. Sae-Nal Lea Kim looks forward to numerous encounters, to a beautiful symbiosis between the audience and the musicians, to many beautiful moments, and of course, to the music.