On April 4 and 5 ArtLinks and the College of Southern Maryland host a grand opportunity for budding pianists to compete while showing their prowess. The competition will be held at the Prince Frederick Campus of CSM. At the end of the competition, the winners will be invited to play in a public performance with world-renown pianist, Jason Brown.
The contest is open to all high school students in Calvert, Charles and St. Mary’s Counties. The contest is designed to reward and encourage young pianists in the Southern Maryland Region. Each competing pianist will get to perform on the world-class Boesendorfer Grand Piano. The world-class and spectacular concert-quality musical instrument is made in Vienna and is appreciated internationally by renowned professional musicians.
The competition is schedule for judging to begin on April 4 and the public performances to be on April 5 with an awards presentation and a reception to follow. Seating is free to the general public, but is limited. For more information about the competition, visit www.csmd.edu/SOMDPianoCompetition or call (301) 855-2966.
After listening to the guest musician perform, most are surprised to learn of Jason Brown’s background. The musician is an ex-quarterback for a small-town Texas high school football team, a recipient of a Van Cliburn music scholarship, a world-touring concert pianist, an accompanist to Richard Pryor’s jazz-singing daughter, a movie score composer and an actor. Brown is also a Southern Maryland farmer with a wife and three children.
“I am where I am because I found something that I loved and made a career out of it,” Brown said. “My dad loved music and insisted that his children learn to play piano. He wanted us stick with it for two years.”
Brown was eight when he started playing and by age 12 he was traveling throughout Texas and Oklahoma every weekend to compete. In high school he played quarterback for the football team. He would practice with his team on the field and then head home to practice solo on the keyboard.
“Friday night football in a small Texas town—everybody in town was there,” Brown said. “The game would end and I would rush off to a piano competition.”
The effort paid off. Through the exposure of competition he gained a reputation and the notice of the judges, many of whom were college professors. He won a scholarship to Baylor University to study music through the Van Cliburn Scholarship and Presidential Scholarship.
“Competitions provide great exposure for kids; whether they win or lose it can help them develop
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