Swan City Piano Festival

12/25/2025

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Swan City Piano Festival! We look forward to seeing you in 2026! 🎹 😊

11/27/2025

We are thankful for all of our supporters over the past 5 years! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 😊🦃🎹

10/06/2025

Tuesday night at Florida Southern, renowned pianist Andreas Klein 🎹👏
FL Southern College | Ticketing - FANTASIES: Andreas Klein, piano https://share.google/gsBzHT7k3Y79U4O0P

06/05/2025

We’re gearing up for a night to remember at the museum! In just a few days, we’ll be joined by the incredible pianist Lynne Arriale, making a rare solo appearance at the Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art.

Hailed as “one of the best contemporary jazz pianists” (Jazz Journal), Lynne’s music is fresh, exhilarating, and deeply beautiful. This marks her Lakeland debut—and we’re thrilled that it’s happening with us.

She’ll be performing selections from her brand-new album Being Human, alongside beloved classics from the Great American Songbook.

The concert begins at 7PM at the AGB. Seating is limited and RSVPs are currently full—but we often have last-minute cancellations, so don’t hesitate to join the standby list or arrive a bit early to claim a seat. Most of the time, we’re able to welcome everyone in.

This will be a truly special evening—and we can’t wait to share it with you.

06/04/2025

🎹 The Swan City Piano Festival kicks off in just a few days, and what a way to start!

We’re thrilled to open the festival with the phenomenal Lindsay Garritson, an internationally acclaimed pianist performing works by some of the greatest classical composers such as Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Ravel and Tchaikovsky. She is a powerhouse pianist you will not want to miss. Catch her live (and for free!!!) on Friday, June 6th at 7PM at Harrison School for the Arts in Lakeland, FL!

🎼 The evening also features a world premiere of a brand-new piece by composer Linda Joy Shishan, commissioned especially for this year’s festival. This stunning new work, “Butterfly of Blue”, is rooted in Lakeland and made for our community. It will be a truly special moment to witness.

Want to hear directly from the composer? Join us at 6PM before the concert for an exclusive pre-concert talk with Linda, where she’ll share insights into her creative process and compositional journey.

This is a must-attend event for music lovers, piano fans, and anyone looking for a vibrant evening of live music in Central Florida. See you there!

06/03/2025

We are so excited to be welcoming Lynne Arriale to Lakeland on Saturday! Her composition “Joy” was selected as the song of the day on WMNF Radio today!

The WMNF Song of the Day is "Joy" by pianist, composer, and educator Lynne Arriale.

05/30/2025

We had an incredible start to our festival last night! We hope to see you at our events next weekend! Go to www.swancitypianofestival.com for all the details.
Photos by the incredible Andy Glogower

05/29/2025

Tonight at 7 p.m. at the Florida Southern Recital Hall! Only a few seats are left. Go to https://www.swancitypianofestival.com/events-and-tickets to check availability!

05/18/2025

Our festival begins in less than 2 weeks! Go to www.swancitypianofestival.com for all the details! 😊🎹

04/14/2025

Artist spotlight #3! Coming to our festival on June 7th, performing at the AGB Museum of Art, jazz pianist Lynne Arriale!
Lynne Arriale, recognized as one of the most exciting contemporary jazz pianists, has performed on prestigious international stages for over 30 years. A winner of the Great American Jazz Piano Competition, she has collaborated with jazz legends like Randy Brecker, Benny Golson, and Marian McPartland, and performed at renowned festivals worldwide. With 17 albums as a leader, her work has topped jazz charts and earned accolades, including recognition on "Best Of" lists by The New Yorker and JazzTimes. A dedicated educator and adjudicator, Arriale is also a Yamaha artist and a professor at the University of North Florida. Her recent albums, such as Being Human, explore themes of unity, love, and resilience in the face of global challenges, affirming her status as both a musical innovator and a voice of social consciousness.

03/27/2025

Artist spotlight #2! Coming to our festival here in Lakeland on June the 8th!
Sean Kennard has won top prizes in the Queen Elisabeth Competition (Belgium), the International Music Competition of Viña del Mar (Chile), the Vendome International Piano Competition (Portugal), the Sendai International Music Competition (Japan), the Hilton Head International Piano Competition (USA), the National Chopin Competition, the Iowa Piano Competition, the American Pianists Association, and the International Chopin Competition of the Pacific.

The Washington Post praised Kennard’s “powerful and involved music making,” describing him as “a strong luminous pianist.” His 2011 debut album received a rave review in American Record Guide, which pronounced it “a hidden gem,” attesting to its “perfect blend of lyricism and romantic passion,” “huge romantic sound, and bold melodic vision.” It proclaimed that he “plays the dickens out of the Stravinsky [Three Movements from Petrushka]” and “plays Chopin’s Preludes with more poise and vision than most pianists who have recorded them.” Fanfare affirmed the enthusiastic reception, naming the album “a very desirable disc” and citing “Kennard’s mastery of Chopin’s idiom,” its “impression of complete effortlessness” and “emotional responsiveness.” The review characterized his playing as “full of life and sparkle,” summing up: “while I wouldn't necessarily say that Kennard outclasses Ashkenazy, Rubinstein, Moravec, Ohlsson…in this repertoire, he surely equals them.”

03/12/2025

Artist Spotlight! Coming for our festival to Lakeland on Friday, June 6th.
Dr. Lindsay Garritson has performed throughout the United States and abroad since the age of four. She has appeared on stages such as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Place des Arts (Montreal), and has been featured as soloist with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, Keweenaw Symphony (Michigan), Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra (Texas), Orchestre Métropolitain (Montreal), Atlantic Classical Orchestra (Florida), Orquestra Sinfônica Barra Mansa (Brazil), the Yale Philharmonic Orchestra, and the European Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. An award-winning performer, Lindsay has received top prizes at the Montreal International Piano Competition, USASU Bösendorfer International Piano Competition, and the Mozarteum International Chopin Competition (Salzburg). She was selected as a participant in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition as well as a finalist for the German Piano Award in Frankfurt, Germany.

An avid chamber musician, Lindsay has performed with Ani Kavafian, Elmar Oliveira, Carter Brey, Ettore Causa, and Ian Rosenbaum, among many others. She is currently a member of the Bergonzi Piano Trio with violinist Scott Flavin and cellist Ross Harbaugh, and their first album of Beethoven and Brahms trios was recently released. Their upcoming album of trios by Dvorak and Shostakovich will be released in 2024. Since 2018, she has been a collaborative pianist for the prestigious Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival.

Lindsay is a passionate advocate for new music, and her Carnegie Hall solo recital debut featured the world premiere of Carl Vine's Piano Sonata No. 4, a work written for her. Concurrently, her second solo album titled “Aphorisms: Piano Music of Carl Vine” was released. In 2022, Lindsay concertized in recital across Australia and New Zealand featuring the music of Carl Vine. She has also recorded the complete works for flute and piano by Samuel Zyman (Albany Records), and premiered works by composers David Ludwig, Nick Omiccioli, and Polina Nazaykinskaya.

Lindsay holds degrees from Principia College (B.A. in Music), Yale School of Music (M.M. and Artist Diploma), and the University of Miami (D.M.A.). Her piano teachers include Santiago Rodriguez, Boris Berman, Luiz de Moura Castro, Choong-Mo Kang, Zena Ilyashov, Emilio Del Rosario, the late Jane Allen, and Jennifer Lim Judd. Lindsay currently resides in Jensen Beach, Florida.