Douglas Humpherys

The Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation has named Douglas Humpherys as its new artistic director. Humpherys succeeds Paul Pollei, who will retain the title of founder and become artistic director emeritus.

Humpherys was the gold medalist at the first Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in 1976. Since then he has served as chair of the Bachauer jury 10 times and as a jury member on four other occasions. He is currently the chair of the piano department at the Eastman School of Music, a position he will keep while serving as artistic director of the Bachauer foundation.

During the Bachauer competition’s 37-year history, approximately 1,500 pianists have participated and more that $430,000 in prize money has been awarded. During Pollei’s tenure, the competition underwent several changes and led the way in innovative thinking. The Bachauer competition was the first to offer participants free choice of repertoire and two rounds of competition without elimination. Pollei also inaugurated separate competitions for three different age groups of pianists.

The next Bachauer competition will be the International Artists competition, which will take place in June 2014.