UA’s School of Music has been known for bringing talented musicians to campus for years, and the Oct. 4 concert was no different.

The Kulas Foundation sponsored the UA/YSU Keyboard Festival at Guzzetta Recital Hall, which featured world renowned artists from all over the globe.

The Kulas Foundation is a local Cleveland organization founded in 1937 that supports music and arts in the area.

Performers included Caroline Oltmanns, a pianist and professor of music at Youngstown State University; Zahari Metchkov, a Bulgarian pianist and organist; Joachim Reinhuber, a German pianist who currently teaches piano at Texas A&M; and James Wilding, a South African composer-pianist.

Audience members enjoyed works from Vivaldi, Brahms, Sousa, and even a few of Wilding’s original compositions. Pieces were performed on piano and harpsichord, which made the experience especially unique for some audience members.

The concert ended with a surprise encore performance of “Flight of the Bumblebee,” written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, in which all four performers played together. The performance brought the audience to their feet in a standing ovation.  

Andrew Paa, a UA graduate student in the arts administration program said, “This is a great opportunity to hear piano and harpsichord together.”

The Foundation has given out approximately $50 million in grants to support arts and music therapy research in the greater Cleveland area over the past two decades.

The UA School of Music has many more interesting performances lined up for the 2015-2016 season. The next show in the Kulas Concert Series called “Collage” is scheduled for Oct. 29 at 7:30 p.m. at E.J. Thomas Hall, and is free for all UA students with their ZipCard.

For more information on upcoming performances or UA’s programs in music, log on to www.uakron.edu/music, or call 330-972-8301.