In late June, while much of Arizona hides from triple-digit heat, audiences in Flagstaff gather for a week of performances, masterclasses, and community events in venues across the city—from Northern Arizona University’s Kitt Recital Hall, to Lowell Observatory, to Arizona Snowbowl.
What began five years ago as an ambitious idea from Silvan Negruțiu, pianist and NAU Michael and Karen Kitt Endowed Professor in Piano, Flagstaff Piano Festival (FPF) has quickly grown into one of the nation’s foremost piano festivals—bringing internationally recognized artists and young musicians to northern Arizona each summer through the support of donors and community partners.
Donor generosity makes it all possible.
Philanthropic support covers the cost of guest artist appearances, student scholarships, faculty costs, competition prizes, community programming, and daily operations—allowing the festival to keep registration fees accessible for participating students and families.
“There is no part of what we offer at Flagstaff Piano Festival that is not enabled and supported by philanthropy,” says Negruțiu.
Without that support, Negruțiu says, registration fees would have to be so high that they would become prohibitive for most.
For Fredricka Stoller and Bill Grabe, retired NAU faculty members and major underwriters of the festival, becoming involved felt natural.
The couple had long attended the Santa Fe Opera and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival each summer, and they remembered a summer music series that took place at NAU when they first joined the faculty in the mid-1980s.
Stoller and Grabe attended FPF’s first season in 2022 as audience members and came away impressed: “We thought the level of performances from national and international caliber pianists was quite amazing,” says Stoller.
Stoller says FPF now fills the role that Santa Fe has long played in their cultural lives—only closer to home: “It becomes the focus of our whole week. It’s almost like a vacation into music. And here it is, right in our backyard.”
“Our contribution to Flagstaff Piano Festival is money well spent. We’re doing this for the community, for Silvan, for the Kitt School of Music, and for these young people,” says Grabe.
“If you want to feel good about contributions that you make to NAU, this will make you feel really good. There are so many beneficiaries,” adds Stoller.
When Negruțiu joined the NAU faculty, the conditions for such a festival were already in place: Flagstaff’s cool mountain climate, its summer tourism, the then-newly completed Kitt Recital Hall with its Steinway concert pianos. What the city lacked was a world-class piano festival.
Now in its fifth year, the 2026 festival runs June 20–27 and features performances by renowned pianists Sergei Babayan, Alexander Kobrin, Simone Dinnerstein, and piano duo Michelle and Kimberly Cann, alongside the opening faculty concert, student performances, and community events.
Negruțiu says the festival’s mission has remained consistent from the start: creating equitable access to high-level piano education and performance while building a genuine sense of artistic community.
The festival’s Piano Academy welcomes up to 24 college and high school students each summer for lessons, masterclasses, performances, and a final competition. Students come from across the country and range widely in experience and background.
“The students who participate in the academy benefit from living this immersive life for a full week, breathing, eating, and dreaming piano, music, and community,” says Negruțiu.
Grabe, who regularly sits in on morning masterclasses, says watching world-class pianists work with students is one of the most rewarding parts of the week.
This year’s programming also includes “Starry Night at Lowell Observatory,” an evening community concert on June 21, and an open-air concert finale on June 27 at Agassiz Lodge at Arizona Snowbowl.
Thursday of festival week is designated as “Piano Immersion Day,” which invites local public school students and families to campus for programming focused on piano pedagogy and music education.
This year’s opening concert, titled Americana, is a celebration of the festival’s fifth season, the semiquincentennial of the United States, and the centennial of Route 66 with music by Leonard Bernstein, Nat King Cole, Aaron Copland, Philip Glass, William Bolcom, Scott Joplin, and John Philip Sousa—performed on two pianos by festival artist faculty Silvan Negruțiu, Michelle Wachter, Kenneth Osowski, and Aimee Fincher.
“As artistic director, my goal is to ensure a diverse series of concerts and artists providing daily artistic programs that are exciting, innovative, and at times even a little norm-challenging,” says Negruțiu.
Negruțiu says he hopes everyone who crosses paths with the festival walks away changed in some small way: “An event like this is meant, in my opinion, to transcend and transform our daily lives.”
