“Piano Extravaganza” launches the 2012 Southeastern Piano Festival A dozen young and several seasoned professional pianists, five Steinway grand pianos and an energetic orchestra led by a charismatic conductor are the ingredients for the “Piano Extravaganza” concert that launches the 10th anniversary of the Southeastern Piano Festival June 10 in Columbia, South Carolina. The 4 p.m. concert is at the Koger Center for the Arts.

One of the evening’s highlights is five pianists playing “The Planets” by Gustav Holst on five pianos. The South Carolina Philharmonic, conducted by Music Director Morihiko Nakahara, and the pianists will also perform works by Bach, Mozart and others. The concert tops off with Columbia’s favorite couple Marina Lomazov and Joseph Rackers performing the

Poulenc Piano Concerto for Two Pianos. USC and festival faculty Charles Fugo and guest artist Phillip Bush, a member of the Steve Reich and Philip Glass ensembles, are also featured on the program.

The concert will showcase winners of the Southeastern Piano Festival’s Arthur Fraser International Concerto Competition, who have gone on to wide-spread acclaim. Returning is the first festival winner Olga Krayterman, winner of the top prize at Concours International de Piano du Moulin d'Andé and the Stravinsky Competition; Leo Svirsky, who won first and second place in the Fraser Competition and who has gone on to a career in performing and composing; Sonya Schumann, who with her sister Elizabeth produced, staged and performed “Piano Theatre” which toured Australia; and Mariana Olaizola, a ballet dancer as well as pianist who was recently featured in Washingtonian magazine.

“Piano Extravaganza” program highlights Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Concerto for Three Pianos Mariana Olaizola, Nicholas Biniaz-Harris, and Baron Fenwick

Gustav Holst - “Mars” and “Jupiter” from “The Planets” Phillip Bush, Charles Fugo, Marina Lomazov, Naomi Causby, and Joseph Rackers

Johann Sebastian Bach - Concerto for Four Pianos Olga Krayterman, Sonya Schumann, Susan Zhang, and Matthew Griswold

Witold Lutosławski – Paganini Variations for Two Pianos Naomi Causby and Zachary Hughes

Francis Poulenc – Concerto for Two Pianos Marina Lomazov and Joseph Rackers

Tickets are $25 for VIP seating and $15 general admission. Tickets for seniors, students, military, USC faculty and staff and Music Teachers National Association members $10. S.C. Philharmonic season subscribers receive a $5 discount. Those under 18 will be admitted for free. Tickets are available through capitoltickets.com or by calling (803) 251-2222.