Sunday June 2, 2019 in Mclean
Emerson Avenue Salons Proudly Presents
Kevin Ayesh
Piano
Program
Includes Music by:
Mozart
Schumann
Chopin
…and…
Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”
Biography
Pianist Kevin Ayesh has performed concerts and presented master classes throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Germany, and Hong Kong. Dr. Ayesh has been the head of the Music Department at Blue Ridge Community College (an all-Steinway School) in Flat Rock, North Carolina since 1992. As a North Carolina Visiting Artist for four years, he appeared before thousands across that state, performing as many as 50 recitals in a season.
Ayesh was recently the featured recitalist and clinician for the Lindlar International Piano Festival in Germany, the Gene Marcus Piano Festival at Purdue University-Fort Wayne, the Star Valley Junior Music Festival in Wyoming, and the USA Piano Camp at the University of South Alabama. Since 2006, Ayesh has presented recitals and master classes at Hong Kong Baptist University, Washington State University, Boise State University, Portland State University, Colorado State University, Missouri State University, Kansas State University, Wichita State University, Texas State University, New Jersey City University, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the University of Kentucky, the University of Tennessee, the University of Mississippi, the University of North Dakota, the University of South Dakota, the University of New Mexico, the University of Colorado, the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Eastern Michigan University, the University of Rhode Island, the University of California-Santa Barbara, Utah Valley University, West Liberty University (WV), St. Mary’s University (MN), Point Loma Nazarene University (CA), Carson-Newman University (TN), Shorter University (GA), Saddleback College (CA), Southwestern University (TX), Randolph College (VA), Nyack College (NY), Eastern Florida State College, the University of Central Florida, Western Wyoming Community College, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Concert Series in Yuma, AZ, St. Paul’s Cathedral Arts Series in Burlington, VT, First Presbyterian Church TGIF Series in Santa Fe, NM, Richard Nixon Presidential Library Series in Yorba Linda, CA, the Dallas (TX) Public Library Series, the Franco Center for Heritage and the Performing Arts in Lewiston, ME, the 88 Keys Grand Piano Society Series in Fernie, BC (Canada), the Silk Purse Arts Centre in West Vancouver, BC (Canada), Portland (OR) Piano Company, retirement villas in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Nevada, salon concerts in Anchorage, AK and Sterling, VA, and the Elkader Opera House in Iowa, in addition to numerous recitals in North Carolina.
Ayesh is the recipient of many prizes, including the Naftzger Piano Award, Baltimore Music Club Award, and Winner of both the JCC Baltimore Piano Competition and the Maryland State Music Teachers’ Elizabeth R. Davis Memorial Piano Competition. He has been a finalist in several national and international competitions, was awarded Second Prize at the Wideman International Piano Competition, and won both Third Prize and Composer’s Prize at the New Orleans International Piano Competition.
Ayesh has appeared three times as concerto soloist with the Hendersonville (NC) Symphony Orchestra, twice with the Brevard Philharmonic Orchestra, twice with the Asheville Chamber Players, and also with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, the Blue Ridge Orchestra, the Wichita Community Orchestra, and the Maryland Youth Symphony Orchestra, performing such concertos as Mozart’s K. 466, K. 467, and K. 488, Beethoven’s 2nd, 3rd, and Choral Fantasy, Brahms’ 1st, Rachmaninoff’s 2nd, and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Ayesh has also presented numerous lecture-recitals of the piano music of American composer Robert Starer.
Ayesh has adjudicated Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) auditions for the state conventions of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, and has been a featured clinician at both the Georgia and South Carolina Music Educators Association state conventions.
A native of Wichita, Kansas, Ayesh received his Bachelor of Music degree with highest honors from the University of Texas at Austin; his master’s and doctorate degrees are from the University of Maryland. His teachers were Elinor Aiken, William Race, and Nelita True.