Abroad, summer music camps and festivals hosted by higher music institutions (colleges) or even independent summer organizations are very common. One of the objectives of these summer events are to allow students to be familiar with various colleges and campuses before they start choosing which to attend. In Indonesia, these type of music events are quite rare, all the rarer because there are very few music higher institutions.

Therefore the first UPH Summer Music Festival and Gala Concert was a special week of masterclasses, workshops, talks, orchestra, choir, performances, and concerts that House of Piano and Steinway Indonesia were proud to sponsor and be a part of.

Taking place from the 20th - 24th of June 2023 in UPH Conservatory of Music campus, the festival was attended by 40 active participants from all disciplines of music. Some students came from Jakarta, while others from Bandung, and even Makassar. Both students and teachers of the music festival had the opportunity to practice and perform on the Grand Baby Essex. Harimada Kusuma, one of the coaches and performers said, “Even though the hall was a bit dry, I could make an unlimited range of dynamics on the piano. The action was also so even! I was very satisfied.”

The Gala Concert which closed the festival was held at the Grand Chapel, attended by more than 400 people in the audience. The piano we provided was the Steinway Spirio R. Two chosen students of the festival performed on the Spirio, and Dr. Mario Santoso, pianist and lecturer, performed the massive Bach Busoni Chaconne. With his permission, we were able to directly record a snippet of the ending, and showed the special recording and playback Spirio features to the audience. Many were surprised and excited at the cool technology.

We hope more higher institutions in Indonesia can host music camps and festivals to keep encouraging young musicians to thrive.