The Piano Duo Competition will be held on February 13 in the Nicholas Martin Hall, also known as the Ann Waggoner Fine Arts Building. Attendance will be extremely limited due to the COVID-19 protocols, but it will be livestreamed.

The judge for this competition will be Dr. Rich Shuster from the Texas Women’s University.

Four Texas Wesleyan students will participate in the Post-12 Division: Anna Barnes, Mark E. Davis, Zoe House, and Fernando Marrufo.

Each competitor gets to choose their allowed audience, whether that’s a friend, family member or mentor. The judge will also be present in the hall while the participant performs.

The participants will be split into 2 groups: K-12 and a group that’s open for any age level after grade 12 that is called the post-12 division and it’s not a competition like the K-12 – it’s a festival for anyone who would like to enter but are older than those in grade 12.

“My favorite thing to do is to make music with other musicians, and it is extra exciting to play duo piano compositions because the possibilities regarding the colors and dynamics the pianist can create are endless,” Fernando Marrufo said.

Mark Davis said, “I will be playing a duet with Anna Barnes. The piece we will perform is Fanfare Toccato Rondo [by Dennis Alexander]. In addition to performing, I am also looking forward to hearing the performances of all of the young musicians of all ages.”

Dr. Ilka Araújo, the associate professor of music, said that the event is a competition for K-12 but is a festival for the participants in the age group after grade 12. This is because, “[When] we open from post-12 and beyond, you may have somebody who actually plays very well, but decided to follow another career, or you have somebody who is an adult beginner pianist student but who knows how to play. So, because of the discrepancy of the levels, then we just decided to just do it as a festival [for the older group].”

There will be 62 participants (13 teachers with 31 teams) with the majority of those participating from grades K-12.

The grades 1-3 get an honorable mention while grades 4-6 get trophies and medals. Grades 7-12 get cash prizes.

This is a regional competition that covers the entire Dallas-Fort Worth area.

This competition is co-sponsored with the Fort Worth Piano Forum who is responsible for the cash prizes given to grades 7-12 competitors.