Words of Welcome to Prospective Students
Piano study at the University of Florida can be very rewarding, intensive and exciting. The School of Music is part of a major flagship and research university-the University of Florida, with some 50,000 students situated in attractive Gainseville, FL with a population of some 150,000.

We have a modern building with an adjacent 840-seat beautiful auditorium with a newly-acquired 9-foot Steinway and a 9-foot Bosendorfer. Plans are underway for the addition in the near future of a smaller recital hall next to our music building.

In the Fall of 2003 the School of Music began a $2 million fundraising campaign that seeks to replace the University of Florida's existing pianos with new pianos from Steinway & Sons. The goal is for UF to become the first all-Steinway school in Florida

And our students have many opportunities to participate in high-level international piano festivals such as the Prague International Piano Masterclasses, the Paris International Piano Sessions at the Ecole Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot and other events.

In addition, the Piano Area hosts numerous masterclasses by internationally-recognized artists/teachers; In 2001 Jerome Lowenthal of the Juilliard School of Music gave the inaugural of our 9 foor Steinway and taught a number of advanced students. In 2002 we held our first annual Steinway Festival, where a number of students from Italy, France, Germany and the U.S. were taught by John Perry (University of Southern California) as well as members of the University of Florida Faculty. At the 2003 Steinway Festival, we welcomed back Jerome Lowenthal, and also Nelson Delle-Vigne Fabbri of the Ecole Normale de Musique "Alfred Cortot" in Paris for a series of masterclasses, lectures, and recitals.

Other artist/teachers who have given masterclasses at the University of Florida include Robert Roux (Rice University), Boris Berman (Yale University), Volker Banfield (Hamburg Hochschule fur Musik), Alexei Bukreev (Yekaterinbourg Music Academy, Russia), Rebecca Penneys (Eastman School of Music), Eugene Pridonoff (Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music), Logan Skelton and Arthur Greene (University of Michigan), Robert Levin (Hardvard University), Paul Schenly (Cleveland Institute of Music), Luiz de Moura Castro (Hartt School of Music), and Maurice Hinson (Alfred Publishing and Southern Theological Seminary).

Should you be interested in piano studies at the University of Florida please contact us for further details. We shall be glad to arrange for an individual audition and with meet with you personally.

With best wishes,

Boaz Sharon
Professor of Piano
Head, Piano Area

About the Faculty
The faculty of the Piano Area of the University of Florida School of Music includes internationally active faculty who perform, record, and direct international piano masterclasses at a high-level. Two of the faculty members are Steinway Artists.

About the Students
Piano students at U.F. come from throughout Florida, the U.S. and several other countries including Korea, China, Taiwan, Brazil, Greece, the Czech Republic and Canada.

The piano students at U.F. include many National Merit Scholars. Graduates of the piano program have won prizes in international and national competitions and have gone on for D.M.A. studies at major schools and to teaching positions.

All piano students receive individual instruction and attention from university professors and none are taught by graduate assistants.

Many of the piano students have won the University of Florida Concerto-Aria competition and have performed with the University of Florida Orchestra such concerti as Tchaikovsky's concerto, Brahms First Concerto, Rachmaninov's Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Liszt's Totentanz and Second Piano Concerto and others. There are numerous performance opportunities which include recitals at the beautiful 800- seat University Memorial Auditorium which has a new 9-foot Steinway as well as a 9-foot Bosendofer. Numerous masterclasses are organized for piano students and have included such artists as Ian Hobson, Jerome Lowenethal, Luiz de Moura Castro and others.

University of Florida piano students can further participate in such internationally recognized events as the Paris International Piano Sessions at the Ecole Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot and at the Prague International Piano Masterclasses which are organized and taught by the Head of the Piano Area, Professor Boaz Sharon.

Piano Festival
Plans are underway for a special Piano Festival for the year 2004 which will include performances by internationally recognized artists as well as the participation by students from several top university and conservatory programs from the U.S. and abroad.

Graduate Students
There are a number of graduate assistantships in Piano Skills, Student Trio and in accompanying for qualified graduate students working towards the Masters in Piano Performance.

Undergraduate Students
Undergraduate piano major scholarships are competitive and can, for exceptional students, cover close to the full-tuition amount .

Degrees
Degree programs include the Undergraduate B.M in Piano Performance, the B.M in Music Education and the B.A with Piano Emphasis. At the Graduate level we offer the M.M in Piano Performance.