The Department of Music, Theatre & Dance at Prairie View A&M University proudly presents PianoFest 2026, a vibrant, one-day celebration of piano performance, education, and artistic community.

PianoFest 2026 offers participants the opportunity to study with distinguished piano educators through engaging masterclasses and lectures focused on composition, piano ensemble performance, and Hymetation (a reflective exploration of hymn and meditation repertoire). The festival also features a piano competition with cash prizes, providing young pianists a valuable platform to perform, grow, and be recognized.

Event date: Saturday, March 28, 2026
The day will conclude with a faculty recital, followed by a Winners’ Recital and Awards Ceremony, celebrating excellence and achievement.
Lunch (pizza) will be provided for registered participants. Observers are welcome to purchase lunch independently at the campus cafeteria.
An Observer Division is available for teachers, parents, and community members who wish to attend festival events without active participation.
Application & Registration Deadline
- Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Questions
- Please contact Dr. Jayoung Hong at Jahong@PVAMU.edu
REGISTER HERE! (you may also scan or click on the below QR Code)

Young Artists Division

Open to pianists in Grades 5–12
(Contestants must enter the division corresponding to their current school grade.)

Application fee: $45 (non-refundable once accepted) REGISTER HERE
Perform two memorized solo works from contrasting style periods
- Original solo piano compositions only
- Performance time limit: 12 minutes
Contestants must bring physical copies of their scores
- Original scores, or public domain works with website source indicated
- All music will be checked at the registration desk
- All music will be checked at the registration desk
- Scores must have no identifying information (student or teacher names removed)
- Measures must be numbered at the beginning of each system
- Handwritten manuscripts, photocopies, transcriptions, or unpublished editions are not permitted
Participation is limited to the first 30 accepted applicants
Participants may choose to attend without competing

Categories:

Grade 5-6
Grade 7-8
Grade 9-10
Grade 11-12

Competition Awards

First Prize: $200
Second Prize: $100
Third Prize: $50
Honorable Mention
Grand Prize: $500
- Awarded to one performer selected from all category winners

Observers Division

Open to teachers and members of the general public who wish to observe festival activities.

Observer registration fee: $20 REGISTER HERE
Online application required

We appreciate your donation for our PianoFest and piano education.

You may scan or click on the below QR code.

Schedule

8:00 am-8:30 am
Check-in REGISTER HERE

8:30 am-11:00 am
Competition

11:00 am-12:00 pm
Masterclass by Dr. Jeong-Suk Bae/ Pianist Gloria Hsu / Dr. Hong / Dr. Davies

12:00 pm-1:00pm
Lunch

1:00 pm-2:00 pm
Masterclass by Dr. Kelley

2:05 pm-3:50 pm
Lectures

2:05 pm-2:30 pm Dr. Hong (Hymetation)
2:35 pm-3:00 pm Dr. Davies (Piano Ensemble)
3:05 pm-3:50 pm Dr. Cornelius (composition)

4:00 pm-6:00 pm
Faculty Recital & Winners Recital & Awards

Dr. Jayoung Hong

Internationally acclaimed pianist Dr. Jayoung Hong, DMA, has captivated audiences across five continents with her artistry and expressive performances. She made her orchestral debut at the age of thirteen with the Korean Symphony Orchestra at Seoul’s Sejong Arts Center, performing Schumann Piano Concerto. Since then, she has appeared as soloist with leading ensembles including the Seoul Chamber Ensemble, Gangnam Symphony, Manhattan Chamber Ensemble, New York Concert Artists Orchestra, Lee’s Summit Orchestra, Las Cruces Symphony, and the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra.

Her solo recitals have been presented in some of the world’s most distinguished venues, among them Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Kennedy Center, Berlin’s Kulturhaus Konzertsaal, London’s St. James’s Piccadilly, the Prague Conservatory, the Sydney Opera House, Pretoria City Hall in South Africa, the Salzburg Mozarteum, and Canada’s May Fest.

A prizewinner of the New York Concert Artists & Associates Piano Competition, New York Sinfonietta Competition, and Italy’s IBLA Grand Prize Competition, Dr. Hong was named a Rising Artist, marking her Carnegie Hall recital debut. As a collaborative pianist, she has performed annually at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium since 2007 and has appeared at major venues including Lincoln Center, London’s Southbank Royal Festival Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Taipei National Hall, and the New Caledonia Korean Festival.

In academia, Dr. Hong has served as Associate Professor and Director of Keyboard Studies at Northwest Nazarene University and held faculty appointments at the Korea National University of Arts and the University of Nebraska. She also coordinated the Pre-College Program at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities International Piano Camp and has presented masterclasses worldwide.

In 2024, her piano students collectively received 35 awards in international competitions, and 13 of them performed at Carnegie Hall as competition winners.

Dr. Hong earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy from the University of Kansas and holds a Certificate in Jazz and Blues Keyboard Skills from Berklee College of Music.

https://youtube.com/@jayounghong?si=ccsSBZK6TS4Y4f_-

Dr. Danny Kelley

Dr. Kelley, Endowed Professor of Fine Arts and faculty member of the Department of Music and Theatre, received his undergraduate degree in Music from Prairie View A&M University where he was a pupil of the late Connally S. Garrett and Albert Hirsh of the piano faculty of the University of Houston. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the US Army, whereupon he was assigned to Headquarters, Department of the Army, Washington, D.C.

Dr. Kelley received both the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. His initial appointment to the Prairie View A&M University faculty was as Coordinator of Keyboard Studies. Subsequent to that, he served a Head of the Department of Music and Theatre until his appointment as Dean of the Brailsford College of Arts and Sciences (2004-2021). Dr. Kelley has performed extensively as a solo artist at many universities throughout the United States, and in the Caribbean and Europe, to critical acclaim. He has performed as soloist with the San Antonio Youth Symphony, the Hopkins-Peabody Chamber Orchestra, and Houston Symphony North. He appeared with the Houston Symphony in Jones Hall, performing the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, celebrating the 125th anniversary of the founding of Prairie View A&M University. He performed a dedication concert upon Prairie View’s designation as an all-Steinway school. Subsequent to that, he performed at Steinway Hall, NY City. He remains in high demand as concert artist and adjudicator.

Dr. John Cornelius II

A member of ASCAP, John Cornelius’ works are garnering increasingly frequent performance throughout the United States. His output includes a number of chamber works, orchestral works, and song cycles. Having been the music director/arranger/composer for a number of theaters including the Great Caruso, the Ensemble Theater, Adventure Theater in Glen Echo Park, Main Street Theatre and Theater Under the Stars’ Humphries School, he has also written, along with his collaborator, Michael J. Bobbitt, several works for the lyric theater including, Mirandy and Brother Wind, Say It Ain’t So!, The Yellow Rose of Texas and his latest, an adaptation of the Negro Baseball League classic, Bingo Long and his Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings. He was featured at a number of Prelude Festivals at the Kennedy Center and has received a commission from the Smithsonian Institute, Going the Distance, a children’s musical about the lives and careers of Wilma Rudolph and Jesse Owens. Of his chamber works, Charles Ward in the Houston Chronicle wrote, “The highlight…was a set of three spirituals arranged for tenor and string orchestra by composer John Cornelius. In O Fix Me, the juxtaposition of an elegant, long melody floating over a sharp, jazzy string riff was electric.” His most recent works include Chansons Creoles, a song cycle whose text is by gens de colour of 19th-century Louisiana and Sonata of Attitudes for 2 Horns and Piano. Dr. Cornelius is a native of Jackson, Mississippi and received his D. M. A. in Composition from Rice University.

Gloria Hsu

GLORIA HSU, a dedicated musician and award-winning pianist, has been teaching piano for over 30 years in Asia, West Africa, and North America. She was the winner of the MTNA Kansas State National Music Teachers’ Piano Competition for four consecutive years. Ms. Hsu was also the winner of The Baldwin Piano Competition, The Young Keyboard Artist International Competition, The Ozark International Piano Competition, and The Naghtger Young Artist Competition.

Ms. Hsu is a member of the Music Teacher’s National Association, American College of Musicians and National Guild of Piano Teachers. She currently maintains an active private studio based in Overland Park, Kansas.

Since age 12, Ms. Hsu studied with pianist Richard Cass, a professor at UMKC Conservatory. At age 15, she made her concerto debut with Salina Symphony Orchestra, and in the following year, with Topeka Symphony Orchestra. At Indiana University, Ms. Hsu received the Bachelor’s and Master’s of Music in Piano Performance under the tutelage of James Tocco and Menahem Pressler. At IU, she also taught undergraduate and graduate students as an assistant piano instructor. Ms. Hsu had taught at the Indiana University Pre-college Piano Program, the Johnson County Community College, and the Montessori International Academy.

Since 2010, Gloria Hsu has collaborated with pianist Jayoung Hong and formed The Cass Duo, named after their beloved teacher Richard Cass. The Cass Duo performed throughout North America and was invited to perform at Sejong Hall in Seoul, Korea, and the National Hall in Taiwan.

Dr. Jeong-Suk Bae

Dr. Jeong-Suk Bae is the organ faculty at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, where she teaches organ and harpsichord while overseeing the summer organ camp and annual Monaghan Organ Recital Series. She serves First Presbyterian Church Houston as the principal organist and the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart as the assistant organist. Along with the church positions, she’s regularly featured as the organist for Chorus Angelorum Evensongs at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham and choral/orchestral events with Houston Chorale Society.

Bae received Doctor of Musical Arts in Organ Performance at the University of Houston under Roberts Bates and Matthew Dirst. Her former teachers include Albert Travis at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (M.M., organ performance), Fort Worth, Texas, and Jikang Jung at ChongShin Presbyterian University (B.M., piano performance), Seoul, South Korea.

Dr. Marshall Davies

Dr. Marshall Davies plays piano all over Houston, all the time. In a typical week, he will play along with organ at Resurrection Lutheran Church, will sing. play and lead music at Plymouth United Church, UCC, will play for the LSC-University Park choir, will accompany opera students at Prairie View A&M University, will play with instrumentalists at LSC-Montgomery, and will play ballet classes at Houston Ballet Academy.

In Taiwan from 1996-2004, Dr. Davies played with Taipei’s Dizzy Jazz Band while teaching piano.at two colleges. In Rochester, New York, he graduated from Eastman School of Music with M.M. and DMA in piano while teaching theory as a graduate T.A. and playing for a gospel choir. In Utah, he graduated in piano from Brigham Young University while accompanying opera scenes and flute recitals and playing in a piano-violin-cello trio. He has played dozens of jazz gigs, musicals, recitals and concerts.

Dr. Daniel Pardo

Daniel Pardo is an award-winning flutist, composer, producer, and educator whose artistry blends classical mastery, jazz improvisation, and Latin American traditions with global influences and technology. His 2024 album Ese Momento, a re-imagining of Latin American boleros, earned two Gold Medals from the Global Music Awards and the Absolute First Prize and Innovation Award at the Beethoven International Competition UK.

A Yamaha Performing Artist and member of the Texas Touring Roster, Daniel has performed and recorded with Grammy-winning producers K.C. Porter (Santana, Ricky Martin) and J.B. Eckl (Santana, En Vogue), as well as acclaimed artists including saxophonist Jeff Coffin, violinist Karen Briggs, and ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro. His performances have been featured at the Silkroad Global Musician Workshop, World Flute Society Convention, International Low Flutes Festival, Opera Maya International Festival, and National Flute Association Convention Gala concerts.

Daniel currently serves as Associate Professor of Flute and Interim Department Head of Music and Theatre at Prairie View A&M University, where he combines performance excellence with educational leadership. He serves as Program Chair for the 2026 National Flute Association Convention in Portland, OR.

With appearances on more than 40 recordings, Daniel is also a sought-after producer, arranger, and mixing/mastering engineer for orchestral, jazz, and world music projects in the U.S. and Europe. For more information, please visit www.danielpardo.com.