Alfred University’s MostArts Festival, founded in 2014, continues its summer magic beginning with the annual opening Gala Concert Sunday, July 13, at 7:30 pm in the Miller Theater.
Alfred University’s MostArts Festival, founded in 2014, continues its summer magic beginning with the annual opening Gala Concert Sunday, July 13, at 7:30 pm in the Miller Theater.
The celebration of classical music will continue through the week, featuring MostArts traditions such as the Young Pianists Competition and afternoon chamber music in Holmes Auditorium. Another MostArts favorite, Music under the Stars, an evening of art, live music, gourmet barbecue, and dancing , will be held Wednesday, July 16, at the Joyce Walton Center. And performer and musician Dennis James returns on the final day of the chamber music series in another Informance Performance “Revisiting The Accordian: A Dilettante’s Redux” with a silent film and featuring the music of Lloyd Smith.
Additional features will also expand the festivities in fresh directions. They include a July 16 open house at the Alfred Ceramic Arts Museum, where the exhibit History: A Legacy in Motion features artwork by Alfred University art faculty through the last 125 years in honor of the 125th anniversary of the New York State College of Ceramics. This event kicks off Music Under the Stars, an evening of art, live music, gourmet barbecue, and dancing.
Also during Festival week: A literary celebration featuring high tea with novelist and short story writer Megan Staffel, whose most recent novel, The Causative Factor, was published in 2024 by Regal House. Performer and musician Dennis James also returns on the final day of the chamber music series in another Informance Performance titled “Revisiting The Accordian: A Dilettante’s Redux” with a silent film and featuring the music of Lloyd Smith.
Additional highlights of the 2025 festival include the opening night performance by 16-year-old Jonathan Mei of Charleston, SC, who won the 2024 Young Pianists Competition Grand Prize. Mei, continuing a MostArts tradition of the winner’s return to Miller Theater the following year, will perform the Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor under the baton of Yuval Zaliouk, long-time conductor of the International MostArts Festival Orchestra.
MostArts will also welcome back pianist Asiya Korpanova, who performed in 2024 with the International MostArts Orchestra. Highly regarded as a composer, visual artist and poet, Korpanova immigrated from Russia to the U.S. in 2012 and has been celebrated for her performances in venues including Carnegie Hall, the Phillips Collection, the International Miami Piano Festival.
Another guest this year: Karén Hakobyan, an Armenian-American conductor, pianist, and composer who is the founder, principal conductor and artistic director of Pegasus: The Orchestra, based in New York. Hakobyan will serve as conductor for the July 15 performance, at which Korpanova will be performing.
The awarding of the 2025 Young Pianists Competition Grand Prize honor will occur Saturday night, at the close of the orchestra’s final performance. That winner, chosen from a group of eight outstanding young classical pianists from across the U.S. will receive a cash award and an invitation to return to the Alfred University campus to open the 2026 MostArts Festival.
The Festival will also host a Family Night Concert, offered free of charge to any family with children. This year’s theme is “A Salute to Summer,” where audience will experience a baseball game on stage, music from the drive-in movies and a trip to the Big Apple. Family tickets must be reserved by emailing [email protected].
Yuval Zaliouk will conclude the festival’s week with a concert celebrating soloists from the orchestra: Concertmistress Noemi Mileradovic, bassist Spencer Phillips and cellist Telalit Charsky.
Altogether, the week’s events present a unique opportunity in a secluded part of New York to experience classical music in all its international glories. “MostArts is local,” says Founder and Artistic Director Lisa Lantz. “MostArts is regional. MostArts is international. MostArts is home to all those who seek affirmation in excellence and the joy of timeless classical music.”
For additional information regarding the 2025 MostArts Festival, visit the Festival website here.
