Piano festival is more than entertainment

The Vladimir Nielsen Piano Festival kicked off its fourth season in Sag Harbor on Sunday and Executive Director Dr. Robert Maimone and his wife, Alexandra Winslow, said they have some special things in store for this year’s installment.

Each summer, the Maimones bring a select group of gifted young pianists from around the world to their Sag Harbor home—headquarters for the Nielsen Foundation—where the young musicians live, work and perform together during the month-long festival.

The mostly precollege-age students practice and study intensively with festival artistic director and co-founder Victoria Mushkatkol, and perform at weekly concerts and recitals, but all agree that the experience has much greater value than simply improving and sharing each pianist’s already substantial talent.

Ms. Mushkatkol was a student of the great 20th century pianist Vladimir Nielsen in her home city of St. Petersburg in Russia. Today she says his excellence and unique, nurturing approach to teaching is integral to her vision. “He’s the greatest artist I have ever known,” Ms. Mushkatkol said.

She said her students do more in one month at the Nielsen Piano Festival than they would during a year of regular lessons, but working together in a supportive and social atmosphere may be the greatest part of their experience. “Pianists are alone,” Ms. Mushkatkol said, explaining that great pianists are often competitive, egotistical and solitary.

While the intensive workshops are designed to help students further their creativity and reach their artistic potential, the festival also helps the young musicians learn to work together. “They hear each other,” Ms. Mushkatkol said. “For the sake of music we are doing this, not for the individual.”

Ms. Mushkatkol has performed and taught around the globe, and she will play in an artistic director’s recital at the Maimones’ home on Saturday, July 31, at 5 p.m. A full schedule of concerts and recitals runs throughout the month of August, including an event at Guild Hall in East Hampton on Tuesday, August 3, and another at the Southampton Cultural Center on Thursday, August 19.

Steinway and Sons sponsors the festival and provides 11 pianos each year. This summer, the company sent out perhaps its most renowned instrument, the subject of the James Barron book, “Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand.”

“It’s been played by every great living concert pianist in existence,” Mrs. Maimone said, barely able to contain her excitement. “They are all superb instruments,” she said of the festival Steinways. “You never know until it’s played that it’s going to be an absolute gem.”

Mrs, Maimone said Steinway representatives would be coming to present the concert grand piano during the festival, but the exact date is yet to be decided.

The Maimones’ son Matthew, 16, is one of 13 students performing at the festival this summer. Dr. Maimone, an oral surgeon, said it was his son who first sparked the family’s love of piano, which in turn gave rise to the festival and its mission of helping young, underprivileged pianists through the sponsorship of the Vladimir Nielsen Foundation. Matthew showed tremendous talent and interest in piano as a child and he was accepted into Juilliard’s precollege division, where he began working with Ms. Mushkatkol at age 10.

When he’s not playing, Matthew serves as the operations manager for the Nielsen Foundation and Festival. “Nobody sees behind the scenes how hard he works,” Mrs. Maimone said, her voice cracking with emotion as she described her son’s positive attitude and the sacrifices he has made for his family and their cause. The couple’s 9-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, is also a student of the piano, Mrs. Maimone said.

The Maimones created the not-for-profit Nielsen Foundation to help financially challenged young pianists get the things they need, including pianos, housing, scholarships, visas and an audience.

“They’re suffering,” Mrs. Maimone said, explaining that many pianists face huge financial challenges. The Nielsen Foundation has helped get kids enrolled in programs at fine music institutions and has negotiated visas for international students as part of their enrollment. Dr, Maimone said he recently moved to make the foundation a 501C3 non-profit corporation and he eventually hopes to underwrite scholarships.

Students accepted into the Nielsen Festival pay tuition, but some are sponsored by the foundation and cost is often based upon what each family can afford.

The Maimones expanded their Sag Harbor home to accommodate the students during the festival in 2007 and it now includes bunkrooms and several soundproof practice rooms. The intimate concerts are played inside the open living room of the house, and French doors open to allow audiences outside the house to watch and listen.

Dr. Maimone and his family recently moved to Sag Harbor full-time, and their Manhattan apartment is currently occupied by a festival student, Pablo Noel, and his family, who recently moved from Costa Rica to support his music career.

For more information and a complete festival schedule, visit NielsenFest.org.