Piano

Preparation

The SMI Piano Camp is designed for pre-college students aged 13-18. High school graduates are also welcome. Conditional acceptance of younger students may be requested via email to Dr. Yontov, the camp director. Students should prepare at least one solo piano work for the first day of camp.

Scholarships

Several scholarships are available to help defray the cost of the camp. Please check the “Scholarships” tab on the main Summer Music Institute page to access this information. Additional scholarships are reserved for participants of the 2024 Dubois Piano Competition.

Master Classes

Daily master classes will be presented by BGSU's distinguished piano faculty. An additional special master class will be presented by our guest artist, Christopher Harding.

Piano Duets

Upon arrival, each camper will be assigned a duet partner to study a piece for piano four-hand. Students will receive instruction and rehearse for four days, culminating in a piano duet concert.

Concerts

In addition to the piano duet concert, two joint recitals are scheduled, featuring all participating campers. The solo pieces performed in these concerts will be selected by the piano faculty.

Guest Artist 

Dr. Matthew Bengtson, Associate Professor of Piano, University of Michigan

Critically acclaimed as a “musician’s pianist,” Matthew Bengtson offers a diverse repertoire, ranging from William Byrd to numerous contemporary composers with whom he actively collaborates. He has performed concerts as both soloist and collaborator in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, and Hungary, in Mexico, in Washington, DC, at Monticello, and in solo recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. He has been heard with violinist Joshua Bell on NPR’s “Performance Today” and XM Satellite Radio’s “Classical Confidential.” His recordings can be heard on the Albany, Arabesque, Griffin Renaissance, IBS Classical, Musica Omnia, Navona, and Roméo record labels.

Mr. Bengtson is lauded as one of the most persuasive advocates of the music of Scriabin and Szymanowski. On his complete Scriabin Piano Sonatas, the American Record Guide writes: “Big-boned pianism, rich tonal colors, and dazzling technique are on display here. Has Scriabin ever been played better? Only Horowitz and Richter can compare.” Fanfare magazine calls him “a Scriabinist for the 21^st century … upon whom future generations can rely for definitive interpretations.” In 2015, he toured with the complete Scriabin sonatas, and performed in the historic centennial “Scriabin in the Himalayas” festival in Ladakh, India.

Equally devoted to the music of Karol Szymanowski, he has recorded a 3-CD collection of the solo piano and violin/piano duo music of the great Polish composer, together with violinist Blanka Bednarz, on the Musica Omnia label, again to critical acclaim. The duo has presented numerous all-Szymanowski duo/solo recitals across the United States and in Poland, including the Karol Szymanowski Museum in Zakopane. His research on Szymanowski mazurkas won a Stefan and Wanda Wilk Prize for Research in Polish Music and is published in the Canadian music journal “Intersections.”

Mr. Bengtson enjoys a close relationship with leading Puerto Rican-born composer Roberto Sierra, of whose music he has given numerous premieres, including his formidable 12 Estudios rítmicos y sonoros, recently recorded on the IBS Classical label in Auditorio Manuel de Falla in Granada, Spain. The disc was awarded the prestigious Melómano de Oro award. He performs in the “Sierra Duo” with cellist John Haines-Eitzen, with whom he recorded Sierra’s complete cello and piano music for Albany Records.

Mr. Bengtson is among today’s proponents of historical performance practice, preferring to perform music when possible on instruments from the era of the composer. Old performing techniques he has put into practice include improvised modulating preludes, ornamented reprises, and original cadenzas. He studied harpsichord with Webb Wiggins at Peabody, and fortepiano with Malcolm Bilson at Cornell University. His video introduction to the Viennese 5-octave fortepiano has become a YouTube favorite. His students have taken top prizes in international competitions on early pianos.

Mr. Bengtson studied piano performance as a Harvard undergraduate with Patricia Zander. He also studied contemporary repertoire with Stephen Drury, and chamber music and performance practice with Robert Levin. He earned his MM and DMA degrees in piano performance at the Peabody Conservatory, studying with Ann Schein. He also studied harpsichord with Webb Wiggins and fortepiano with Malcolm Bilson on a special fellowship at Cornell University. He has participated in many American music festivals, such as the Aspen Music Festival, and the Baroque Performance Institute (BPI) at Oberlin Conservatory. In Europe, he studied at the Internationale Sommerakademie “Mozarteum” in Salzburg, Austria, at the Centre Acanthes in Avignon, with Claude Helffer and at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau, France, with Philippe Entremont.

Renowned as a writer and music educator, Mr. Bengtson is author of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) entitled “Exploring Piano Literature: the Piano Sonata,” available on Coursera, and is co-author of “The Alexander Scriabin Companion: History, Performance, and Lore,” available from Rowman and Littlefield Press. He is Associate Professor of Piano Literature at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, where he teaches piano, fortepiano, and courses and seminars in piano repertoire, history and culture. He has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, at Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges, at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Music, Bowling Green State University, and the Peabody Institute.

Mr. Bengtson is a Steinway Artist.