{"id":139465,"date":"2024-05-20T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=139465"},"modified":"2024-05-23T11:39:35","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T16:39:35","slug":"world-championship-old-time-piano-playing-contest-celebrates-50-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/world-championship-old-time-piano-playing-contest-celebrates-50-years\/","title":{"rendered":"World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest Celebrates 50 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May 23-26, 2024 event to feature special guests and Silent Movie screening<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the nation’s premier celebrations of ragtime, traditional jazz and blues piano music,\u00a0the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and Festival<\/strong> marks its 50th anniversary this year at the\u00a0University of Mississippi<\/strong><\/a>, the event’s host since 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From May 23 to 26, 2024,\u00a0contestants<\/a>\u00a0ages 11 to 83 will converge on Oxford <\/strong>from across the U.S., as well as Great Britain, France<\/strong>, and Japan<\/strong>, vying for trophies, medallions, and a record $10,000 in cash prizes. More than 30 contestants are set to participate this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“If you love ragtime, jazz, blues, honky-tonk, boogie or novelty songs from the ‘Tin Pan Alley’ era, you’ll have the time of your life in Oxford this Memorial Day weekend,” said Ian Hominick<\/strong>, UM professor of\u00a0music<\/a>. “It’s four fun-filled days of fabulous music where there’s truly something for everyone to enjoy.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This commemorative anniversary event will feature founder Ted Lemen<\/strong> as emcee of three of the four primary contests: the junior division for contestants 18 and under, regular division, and senior division for ages 60 and older. Pianist Bobby Van Deusen<\/strong> will emcee the New Rag Contest for new ragtime compositions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special guests include jazz icon Judy Carmichael<\/strong>, host of National Public Radio<\/strong>‘s “Jazz Inspired,” along with guitarist Larry Koonse<\/strong>; award-winning entertainer Todd Robbins<\/strong>, “Investigation Discovery Channel” host and magician; pianist Bill Perry Jr.<\/strong>; and the only four-time champion, Adam Swanson<\/strong>, who has performed at music festivals worldwide and serves as co-emcee for the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on the contest’s impact over the past 50 years, Lemen said it has helped launch the careers of many acclaimed musicians, such as two-time junior champion Marty Sammon<\/strong>. Sammon ultimately went on to tour with blues legend Buddy Guy<\/strong> before Sammon’s death in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Marty actually mentored Daniel Souvigny, a three-time junior champion who went on to replace him in Buddy’s band,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“One of our champions, Russell Wilson, plays for the Marine band at the White House. Meteorologist Ron Trotta won three times in a row \u2013 he was ‘New York’s musical TV weatherman’ before he retired. There are so many stories like these.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides the competitions, the festival will offer workshops, a silent movie luncheon with live musical accompaniment, catered affairs with live music and nightly\u00a0after-hours events with diverse live music at the\u00a0Powerhouse Community Arts Center<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hominick, who is artistic director and local coordinator of the competition, said he is particularly excited about this year’s special guests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We have an incredible roster of artists joining us to celebrate this milestone,” he said. “It’s a rare opportunity to experience such an incredible array of talent all in one place.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All-event passes, day passes and individual tickets are available online<\/a> and at the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ted Lemen, founder of the Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, is set to emcee and perform at this year’s event. Submitted photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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May 23-26, 2024 event to feature special guests and Silent Movie screening One of the nation’s premier celebrations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123462,"featured_media":139552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25295,7887,19,17687],"tags":[12509,271,28761,3887,28766,6767,12506,21480,18978,28762,28763,28765,5,5454,7067,4,5494,28768,28767,28760,28764,655,8553],"class_list":["post-139465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-festivals","category-local-music","category-local-news","category-university-of-mississippi","tag-adam-swanson","tag-bill-perry-jr","tag-bobby-van-deusen","tag-buddy-guy","tag-daniel-souvigny","tag-france","tag-great-britain","tag-ian-hominick","tag-japan","tag-judy-carmichael","tag-larry-koonse","tag-marty-sammon","tag-mississippi","tag-national-public-radio","tag-ole-miss","tag-oxford","tag-powerhouse-community-arts-center","tag-ron-trotta","tag-russell-wilson","tag-ted-lemen","tag-todd-robbins","tag-university-of-mississippi","tag-world-championship-old-time-piano-playing-contest-and-festival"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/2024-T-shirt-crop.jpg?fit=1723%2C2228&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139470,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139465\/revisions\/139470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}