The 2006 festival, which runs April 22-May 7, 2006, will include performances by the new Gilmore Artist, whose name will be announced in January, and all four previous recipients of the award: Piotr Anderszewski, Leif Ove Andsnes, Ralf Gothoni, and David Owen Norris. Natasha Paremski and Yuja Wang, the most recent winners of the Young Artist Award, will also appear.
Other highlights include performances by pianist Pierre Laurent Aimard, the Lincoln Center Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, pianist Gilbert Kalish, the Brad Mehldau Trio, the jazz group the Bad Plus, and the duo of composer-pianist William Bolcom and soprano Joan Morris. Pianist Sarah Rothenberg will team with harpsichordist John Gibbons in a program pairing the keyboard music of Bach and Shostakovich; David Owen Norris will explore the piano improvisations of Edward Elgar. Orchestras scheduled to appear include the Grand Rapids Symphony, Southwest Michigan Symphony, Battle Creek Symphony, and Kalamazoo Symphony.