Headquartered in Ft. Collins, Colorado,
U.S.A., the International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival (IKOF) is a
501(c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to promoting new generations
of keyboard artists through an internationally linked competition and
festival. The IKOF is hosted annually in the U.S.A. and exported to music
schools in different countries around the world through a network of
participating member associates.
The International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival in each member
country hosts its own competition and festival under license of the
U.S.A. Headquarters that provides a turnkey operation for distribution
to member associates. The IKOF supports the exchange of keyboard students and faculty via
scholarships and fellowships, conferences, workshops, masterclasses, and
performance opportunities around the world. Unique in its vision,
format, and global outreach, the IKOF is designed for young musicians,
teachers, distinguished amateurs, patrons, sponsors, and audiences that love the piano and its repertoire.
The 2013 International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival, U.S.A. is presented in conjunction with the Summer Keyboard Institute (SKI/Colorado). The event features a series of recitals, special topic presentations
on repertoire, performance, and pedagogy, master classes by guest
artists and SKI/Colorado faculty, and a live audience for the
International Keyboard Odyssiad & Festival, U.S.A.
Special SKI/Colorado guest artists for 2013 include Van Cliburn Silver Medalist, Valery Kuleshov, and Aleksandr “Sasha” Voinov, the brilliant 15-year-old Russian pianist and composer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Gold Medalist in the 2012 IKOF. Other guest artists include pianists Hsing-ay Hsu, Theresa Bogard, Steven Mayer, and three orchestral conductors - Lawrence Golan, Wes Kenney, and Scott O’Neil - for the Piano Concerti Session.
Dr. Janet Landreth, Professor of Piano and Keyboard Area Coordinator at Colorado State University, Dr. Janet Landreth is Founder and Director of the International Keyboard Odyssiad and Festival, Inc., U.S.A., a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation headquartered in Fort Collins, Colorado and exported through licensing and exchange agreements to universities and conservatories in other countries. Dr. Landreth combines an active career as an artist-teacher, performer, and administrator with international research and travel. She has lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where she studied the music of Heitor Villa-Lobos at the Museu Villa Lobos and in London, England where she studied Alexander Technique. The recipient of numerous performance awards, she has performed recitals and presented her research in France, Spain, Brazil, Bolivia, Italy, and the U.S. She performed five all-Liszt recitals in 2011 to celebrate the 200th birthday of the composer, Franz Liszt, and has appeared as a guest in the International Deia Music Festival in Mallorca, Spain, the III International Latin American Piano Music Conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and the 1st International Villa-Lobos Conference in Paris, France. After her research paper, “Settings of Folk Tunes and Children’s Songs in the Solo Piano Music Of Villa-Lobos” was selected for presentation at the 1st International Villa-Lobos Conference, she was invited to return to Paris to serve on a doctoral thesis committee in musicology at the University of Paris – Sorbonne. Janet is also known as a gifted artist-teacher whose students have won numerous competitions and awards, including ten who have performed as soloists with the Denver (Colorado) Symphony.