Twelve Gurwitz 2024 Contestants Announced

Twelve Gurwitz 2024 Contestants Announced

Back to Gurwitz News Over the course of the summer this year, a preliminary jury – 2020 Gold Medalist Jiale Li, Italian pianist Pasquale Iannone, and U.S. pianist Daria Rabotkina – narrowed down from 76 total applicants to the 2024 competition. This jury also made the decision to include an additional round to the selection process in order to come to a final decision due to the high level of the applicant submissions. The Gurwitz International Piano Competition proudly announces the following twelve contestants who will compete live in San Antonio, TX for the 2024 competition in January/February: 2024 Competition Contestants...

Announcing The Gurwitz 2024 International Piano Competition!

Announcing The Gurwitz 2024 International Piano Competition!

Back to Gurwitz News Get ready to immerse yourself in a world of piano brilliance and virtuosity as we proudly announce The Gurwitz International Piano Competition, occurring from 26 January – 4 February 2024 in San Antonio, TX, USA. Please mark your calendars and join us next year! The Gurwitz (formerly the “San Antonio International Piano Competition”) took place previously in 2020 just before the COVID-19 outbreak, and resulted in three medalists – Jiale Li (Gold), Yedam Kim (Silver) and Leonardo Colafelice (Bronze) – who have since performed with MBAW and other Texas groups and continued to build careers in...

2020 Gold Medalist Jiale Li back in San Antonio

2020 Gold Medalist Jiale Li back in San Antonio

Back to Gurwitz News In a recital titled after the artist’s Gold Medal win at the 2020 Gurwitz International Piano Competition, Musical Bridges Around the World presents pianist Jiale Li in “Golden Touch” to open its 26th season of Russell Hill Rogers Musical Evenings at San Fernando Cathedral. The concert will take place on Sunday 24 September 2023 at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Ticket registration is required at mbaw.org/sfc. This performance marks Li’s first return to San Antonio since his victory, and the program will include romantic virtuoso masterworks by Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, and Rachmaninoff.  One year after...

Dionne Warwick is Gurwitz 2024 Honorary Chair!

Dionne Warwick is Gurwitz 2024 Honorary Chair!

Back to Gurwitz News On 5 February 2023, The Gurwitz International Piano Competition announced its new Honorary Chair for the upcoming competition in January/February 2024,  international music icon Dionne Warwick. As a cornerstone of American pop music and culture, Warwick’s soothing and sensual voice has sold over 100 million sold records, six Grammy Awards, and 75 chart hits. So why did The Gurwitz seek her out? One quote from Dionne exemplifies a reason why: “I’d like to see a world free of strife, stress, pain, hunger, war – a cool place where everyone could live.” The statement mirrors Musical Bridges Around the World’s...

Watch Full Concert – Yedam Kim + Gwangju Symphony Orchestra

Watch Full Concert – Yedam Kim + Gwangju Symphony Orchestra

Back to Gurwitz News On 5 February 2023, pianist Yedam Kim and the Gwangju Symphony Orchestra performed at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts in celebration 40th anniversary of Sister City relations between Gwangju, South Korea and San Antonio, TX. The concert was the finale event for Musical Bridges Around the World’s (MBAW) annual music festival, UNITYFest, which creates meaningful connections through cross-cultural collaborations and merging of classical & contemporary music.  French-Korean pianist Yedam Kim is no stranger to San Antonio though, securing the 2020 Silver Medal in The Gurwitz International Piano...

Season 26 of San Fernando Cathedral Announced!

Season 26 of San Fernando Cathedral Announced!

Musical Bridges Around the World founder Anya Grokhovski says when she moved to the US from the USSR in the ‘90s, she never imagined she would reach 25 years of leading a performing arts organization in South Texas. Her energy and enthusiasm have built a model program “celebrating our share humanity by providing access to global arts for all” through an acclaimed, free concert series, an international music festival, visual art exhibitions, senior concerts, and award-winning educational programing. In this Silver Jubilee year, Musical Bridges is happy to announce its 2022-2023 season of Russell Hill Rogers Musical Evenings at San Fernando...

Watch Full Concert – Leonardo Colafelice @ San Fernando Cathedral

Watch Full Concert – Leonardo Colafelice @ San Fernando Cathedral

Back to Gurwitz News Leonardo Colafelice, Italian concert pianist and 2020 Bronze Medalist and Audience Favorite of The Gurwitz International Piano Competition, returned to San Antonio in March 2023 with a stellar new virtuoso program of Franz Liszt compositions inspired by Italian opera masterpieces of Rossini, Bellini and Verdi! From Altamura (Bari) in Southern Italy, Colafelice has won a multitude of international competitions and also currently teaches as Piano Professor at the renowned “Niccolò Piccinni Conservatory of Music” in Bari. Watch the full concert...

“The Quilt” Makes Its San Antonio Debut

“The Quilt” Makes Its San Antonio Debut

Cast and crew of “The Quilt” film speak during a Q&A session following the screening premiere. © 2023 Robert Michaelson “The Quilt: A Living History of African American Music”, an educational documentary produced by Musical Bridges Around the World, had a full house for its red carpet premiere at the Jo Long Theatre of the Carver Community Cultural Center. The venue is also the same location where all of the onscreen dialogue and some of the film’s musical performances were filmed, with the rest being captured at Texas Public Radio’s Malú and Carlos Alvarez Theater & Studio. Community is a big...

Kids to Concerts Merges Into Musical Sprouts!

Kids to Concerts Merges Into Musical Sprouts!

Over the course of Summer 2022, Musical Bridges Around the World has made some positive shifts in the Musical Sprouts educational program, which has provided live concerts (or virtual concert films) plus cultural curriculum and learning to students in need. We have finished the five-year Sprouts research study proving its efficacy and are now in the process of expanding the program exponentially with the needs we see in the community. Our first educational program, Kids to Concerts, started in 2001 by providing impactful live concerts in schools. Now as Sprouts continues to grow and provide these same exact live concerts as part of its...

The History of Musical Sprouts

The History of Musical Sprouts

A History by Anya Grokhovski, DMA, MBAW CEO, Founder & Artistic Director The beginning of Musical Bridges Around the World’s educational programs started at the oldest official venue for Mexican culture in the U.S., Instituto Cultural de Mexico. We’ve always had an excellent relationship with this gem of a space in San Antonio. It’s the largest cultural arm of Mexico in the country, outside of Washington, DC. The performance hall seats about 180 people, and our first audiences were children from surrounding schools who walked to the concerts with their teachers. As the series grew, we learned that many schools faced logistical...

25th Anniversary Season of San Fernando Cathedral Announced!

25th Anniversary Season of San Fernando Cathedral Announced!

Musical Bridges Around the World founder Anya Grokhovski says when she moved to the US from the USSR in the ‘90s, she never imagined she would reach 25 years of leading a performing arts organization in South Texas. Her energy and enthusiasm have built a model program “celebrating our share humanity by providing access to global arts for all” through an acclaimed, free concert series, an international music festival, visual art exhibitions, senior concerts, and award-winning educational programing. In this Silver Jubilee year, Musical Bridges is happy to announce its 2022-2023 season of Russell Hill Rogers Musical Evenings at San Fernando...

Musical Sprouts in UTSA’s Education News

Musical Sprouts in UTSA’s Education News

UTSA’s College of Education & Human Development’s Chris Reichert just published a new online article covering the latest in MBAW’s Musical Sprouts, a FREE educational engagement program providing students the opportunity to travel the world by bringing performing artists and cultural connections to their classrooms. During the past three years, the curriculum portion of the program was also subject to a simultaneous research study put together in partnership with the University of Texas System to determine and prove the impact and efficacy of the program. In this article, Sprouts research assistant and UTSA Department...

Fall 2021 Educational Impact Report

Fall 2021 Educational Impact Report

Report by Jennifer Reed-Martinez, MBAW Director of Community Engagement This fall, over 3,300 students traveled virtually to Ukraine with our Kids to Concerts program, with a concert video (seen below) by renowned Ukrainian musician Jurij Fedynskyj. During the pandemic, this program had to shift from live in-person concerts to virtual concert videos. And now, as schools move back to a mix of virtual and/or in-classroom learning, the program adapts to meet that change again as our January concerts covering the music of African American culture & history will be live in the schools.  In addition, 650 students received five hands-on,...

24th Season of San Fernando Cathedral Announced!

24th Season of San Fernando Cathedral Announced!

Musical Bridges Around the World is happy to announce its return to the historic San Fernando Cathedral for the 2021-2022 season, its 24th! All performances are FREE and open to the public! Seating is first come first served. Safety at the CathedralMBAW will follow all safety and distancing guidelines for fine arts performance halls per the State of Texas, as well any other measures it feels necessary per event from its own discretion for the ensured safety of its attendees. More details about safety guideline details/protocols being enacted will be provided with each concert’s communication and as each date approaches, as per the...

Musical Sprouts Research in UTSA Today

Musical Sprouts Research in UTSA Today

Our growing Musical Sprouts curriculum-based program has made its way into the University of Texas at San Antonio’s news site UTSA Today! The article discusses the partnership with UTSA researchers to analyze how our program is affecting and helping local students in the San Antonio area. Check it out here: https://www.utsa.edu/today/2020/02/story/musical-sprouts.html and here:...