TAMPA, Fla. — The Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival at the University of South Florida gathers for the 12th time this year.

Public concerts at the music festival are happening this weekend and through the middle of next week.

What You Need To Know

  • The festival gathers some of the best young talent in piano worldwide

  • Professor Alvin Chow from Oberlin Conservatory of Music has been participating for a handful of years and says it's a special event

  • More Good News headlines

For several days now, some of the greatest pianists in the world have been showcasing at University of South Florida.

Spectrum Bay News 9 has featured Rebecca Penneys, who is a very respected pianist and educator and runs the Rebecca Penneys’ Piano Festival, which is also a school, at the university.

Penneys talked about how the student-and-teacher pairing works at her school and who they are making music for while making others feel good.

Prof. Alvin Chow, who has been teaching at the festival for several years, said the three-week festival amounts to what students get in one course at college.

"So, it's really getting a semester worth of education with no tuition, and that's all the vision of the founder and director of the festival Rebecca Penneys," said Chow.

The professors, like Chow, get to mold world-class talent.

“This is one of the most prestigious piano festivals in the world,” he said.

Chow is currently the chair of the piano department at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio.

He is a Julliard-trained pianist who has traveled the world performing.

He explained to work with each individual student is a unique experience.

“We’re teaching pieces that we’ve taught a million times,” he said. “But when you talk about who you’re working with, that person is unique. And so there is a different way to communicate with that person what this music is about.”

During a lesson, that student is Fiona Wu, who is a rising senior from Oberlin in her second trip to the festival.

She said she is grateful for the learning opportunity. Wu also said she is happy to be in Tampa Bay and experiencing what it has to offer when she is in her downtime and not striking a chord.

During the festival, the student groups take excursion to visit the area.

“To see the dolphins and the museums,” said Wu. “So, we really have a great experience from not only learning the piano but having fun. Yeah.”

While Spectrum News interviewed Wu, she practiced a piece by Claude Debussy, the French master.

Chow said the level of talent from students is a big reason he comes back to teach in Tampa.

He also shares the same appreciation for his fellow professors.

“So many of my colleagues are people that I’ve admired for years,” he said. “And it’s always a great reunion with them as well.”

L’isle Joyeuse was inspired by a painting Debussy saw more than a hundred years ago.

When hearing it played by Wu, it still makes the audience feel good.