For Austin Chanu, the baton bug bit early. “When I was in high school playing clarinet, I used to double on a lot of woodwind instruments – flute, oboe, bassoon, saxophone – so by my senior year of high school, I was working full–time as a pit orchestra musician in professional musical theatres,” he recalled, “playing in the orchestras under the stage for ‘Sweeney Todd,’ all kinds of shows. “And I got into conducting little musicals here and there, and I loved doing that kind of theatre. It was really fun and it got me more engaged in working as a conductor and a music director. Giving notes ..read more

Most high school students assembling the material for college applications know that extracurricular activities highlighting community engagement are desirable data points for admissions officers.   “A musical skill set can punctuate a student’s college admission application to showcase unique expertise and differentiate it from measures of other applicants,” according to music educator Curtis  Forbes, with participation in performing ensembles checking boxes for “initiative and commitment to collaboration, culture, and creativity… Ultimately, colleges don’t care that you chose ..read more

This intense event is in its first round this week, where our girl Elli Choi is one of 63 violinists who made it through video qualifications to play for the panel in Brussels, Belgium. The field will be whittled down to 24 before the second round begins. That next group will be announced Saturday. Elli played Tuesday, and you can see it here. Elli Choi has spent more waking hours with a violin in her hands than probably anything else. She spent many quality hours that way through the years at PIMF, most recently as a Student Manager at PIMF’s Winter Break “Music in the Mansion” Mini-Camp for ..read more

Ria Kang was a day student at PIMF during her first summer there two years ago. She’d been playing violin since age 4, with much of her earliest training online during the pandemic. By the time she arrived at PIMF at age 6, not only was her devotion to her instrument unwavering, she was well along to planning a music-centric future. “First major! First major!” she insisted when her mother, Nicole Kim, was explaining at that time that she wasn’t sure where music might take her precocious violinist. Apparently, by first grade, Ria had already decided on majoring exclusively in music in college ..read more

While the classical music repertoire is replete with Christianity-inspired sacred works from composers across the centuries, the Passover season is a great time to discover (and re-discover!) works that celebrate Jewish and Hebrew themes and traditions. Classical music stations have been replaying the hour-long special by Itzhak Perlman where he shares Passover music and songs and memories from his childhood in Israel. You can stream it here! And if you’d like to re-hear any of the featured works, the playlist can direct you. You’re likely familiar with many classical music works by Jewish com ..read more

PIMF’s Music in the Mansion winter break mini-camp for strings was at capacity again in Miami as twenty talented young musicians gathered to rev up their skills and start 2024 on a high note. While stretch limousines were NOT deployed to bring arriving students from the airport, as soon as they entered the grounds of Casa Tranquila, they entered a world of elegance and pampering designed to elevate their entire educational experience. “There’s really nothing like it in the country,” PIMF President and co-Founder Sandy Marcucci says. “It’s a specialized, intense music program much more like ‘gl ..read more

We hope all our PIMF friends and family enjoyed the recent 4th of July holiday; perhaps you took in some dazzling fireworks displays? PIMF student Mio Imai made fireworks of her own: she took the concerto she polished at PIMF with Kimberly Fisher, Principal Second Violin of The Philadelphia Orchestra, just two weeks earlier to Italy and handily blew away the field as well as the adjudication panel to win the Grand Prize at the “Piccolo Violino Magico” international violin competition. We are bustin’ all our buttons over this hard-working young violinist and thrilled to be part of her journey ..read more

SHOOTING STAR ALERT: Philadelphia Orchestra Conducting Fellow Tristan Rais-Sherman will be at PIMF in June, guest conducting the Senior Orchestra, guest coaching the Chamber Music Program, and leading the full camp sight-reading sessions. If you haven’t heard of him, welcome out from under that rock! JK, we’re lucky to be up to our chin-rests in classical music superstars on the PIMF faculty, so it’s easy to lose track sometimes. Please accept these fun facts on Maestro Rais-Sherman: He started out on cello in 4th grade but his first real passion was ELECTRIC GUITAR. “I really wanted to be a ..read more

The prestigious Philadelphia International Music Festival awarded over $20,000 in scholarships and performance opportunities to talented young musicians who participated in PIMF’s semi-annual Online Concerto Competition. The Grand Prize Winner is 14-year-old pianist Celicia Thendean of Pleasanton, California, who won a full scholarship to PIMF’s intensive classical music training program this summer, a featured performance on PIMF’s YouTube channel, and an invitation to perform in the annual PIMF Winners’ Circle Concert with several members of The Philadelphia Orchestra. The Amador Valley High ..read more

There are many ways an organization can mark a Silver Anniversary: splashy advertising, promotions, signage… We could have done that. Instead, The Philadelphia International Music Festival notched its 25th year in 2022 with enhanced online programming that drew record numbers of participants; a beefed-up curriculum at its summer camp as it welcomed students from overseas again as well as from all over North America; and a dazzling work-hard play-hard Solo Music Intensive for violin and cello at a luxurious south Florida estate to end the celebration year on a high note. And such a high! Violin ..read more