Aspen Music Festival and School to give full fellowships to all solo piano students
An $11 million gift from the Paulson Family Foundation will cover tuition, room and board for every Aspen solo piano student from summer 2027.
The Aspen Music Festival and School in Colorado has announced that every student in its solo piano program will receive a full fellowship covering tuition, room and board, starting in summer 2027.
The fellowships are funded by an $11 million endowment gift from the Paulson Family Foundation, which will pay for them permanently. John Paulson, the owner of Steinway & Sons, is named in the announcement. The program will now be called the Paulson Center for Piano Studies, and the gift also creates the Veda Kaplinsky Piano Faculty Chair, named for the longtime Aspen teacher and chair of the piano department at The Juilliard School.
Aspen admits about 50 young pianists to the program each summer. Summer 2027 will be the first season of the Paulson Center, and applications are open now, with a deadline of December 15, 2026.
Source: Aspen Music Festival and School press release, Aspen Music Festival and School, Solo Piano
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Would a full fellowship change which summer program you apply to?
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