After a 13-month competition, one of this year’s five finalists — Michael Davidman, Avery Gagliano, Sasha Kasman Laude, Elliot Wuu, and Angie Zhang — will be awarded the prestigious Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship. This fellowship, given every four years, honors an American classical pianist between the ages of 18 and 30. The Finals Week provides a platform for all five finalists to showcase their versatility through live solo, chamber, and concerto performances in Indianapolis.
The winner of the 50th American Piano Awards will be revealed on April 5 at the Hilbert Circle Theatre.
The 2025 winner will receive over $200,000 in career support, including two years of career management and public relations assistance, a media tour, an artist residency at the University of Indianapolis, a recording contract with the Steinway & Sons label, and performance opportunities across the country. The winner will also embark on a recital tour during the 2026-27 season and perform with the American Piano Awards’ partner orchestras, including the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
March 31 – April 4, 12:00 PM (1-hour concert): Each finalist will perform with the Dover Quartet at Christ Church Cathedral on Monument Circle.
Throughout Finals Week, all five finalists will present daffodils, a newly commissioned work by North Carolina-based composer Brittany J. Green. daffodils is a suite for solo piano inspired by E. E. Cummings’s poem “In Time of daffodils.” In her program note, Green describes the piece as exploring different phases of life: growing, dreaming, loving, seeking, and letting go. daffodils also serves as a response to “Cocktail Music (Song Without Words),” a set of miniatures for solo piano by American composer Steven R. Gerber (1948–2015).
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