International Keyboard Odyssiad® & Festival, U.S.A.

Welcome Pianists!

2025
International Keyboard Odyssiad® & Festival, U.S.A. 
Competition (Semifinals): August 4, 2025

Festival, including Final Competition Rounds: August 4 – August 9, 2025

Announcing the 2025 International Keyboard Odyssiad® & Festival, U.S.A., taking place at the foothills of the majestic and colorful Rocky Mountains of Colorado, featuring an international competition and festival for pianists of all nationalities. The Semifinal Round of the competition will take place on Monday, Aug. 4.  The festival and all Final Rounds will take place from August 4 - August 9, 2025 at the University Center for the Arts, Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, Colorado (1400 Remington St.). Fort Collins is located approximately one hour north of Denver and within a one-hour’s drive of the beautiful Rocky Mountain National Park.

The Preliminary Round of the Odyssiad® is held online and judged by professionals around the United States. Pianists must submit their application materials ONLINE by the deadline of June 16, 2025. Preliminary Round judges will select the Odyssiad® competitors that advance to the Semifinal Round in Fort Collins, Colorado on Monday, August 4. The Final Rounds of the Odyssiad® take place during the 2025 International Keyboard Odyssiad® & Festival, U.S.A. (August 4-August 9, 2025).

The ODYSSIAD®, "A Journey to the Performance of a Lifetime," is an international competition for pianists with both Solo and Concerto Divisions. A panel of judges rates each performer separately for Technical Merit and Artistic Merit in an Olympic-styled judging format before a live audience.

The Solo Division offers Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals, cash awards, and special prizes to the winners in three age levels:

Level A (Ages 13 and younger as of June 16, 2025)

• $500 (Gold), $300 (Silver), $200 (Bronze)

Level B (Ages 14-18 as of June 16, 2025) 

• $1,000 (Gold), $500 (Silver), and $250 (Bronze)  

Level C, Young Artist (Ages 19-35 as of June 16, 2025)

• $5,000 (Gold), $2,000 (Silver), and $1,000 (Bronze)

The Solo Division also offers The Linda Leirfallom Brewer Award for “Best Performance of Chopin” ($500).

The Concerto Division offers Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals, cash awards, and special prizes to the winners in two age levels:

• Junior Complete Concerto (Ages 18 and under as of June 16, 2025) * - New This Year!
• Senior Complete Concerto (Ages 19-35 as of June 16, 2025)

• $3,000 (Gold), plus a performance with the Boulder Symphony in Boulder, Colorado, Devin Patrick Hughes conducting
• $2,000 (Silver)
• $1,000 (Bronze)

Young Artist Complete Concerto Division (Ages 18 and under as of June 16, 2025)

• $1,000 (Bobbie and Paul Mielke Gold Medal), plus a performance with the Fort Collins Health and Wellness Community Orchestra
• $500 (Silver)
• $250 (Bronze)

Guest Artists for the 2025 Odyssiad® Festival include cellist Zuill Bailey (Grammy-Award Winning Cellist) with Bryan Wallick (Horowitz Gold Medalist, Kyiv; Colorado State University); the Gold Medalist of the 2025 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition (to be determined in May/June of 2025); Yaron Kohlberg, President of Piano Cleveland and CIPC; Dongni Xie, Gold Medalist in the 2017 International Keyboard Odyssiad® & Festival, U.S.A.; and Maxim Lando, Bronze Medalist in the 2024 Cleveland International Piano Competition (CIPC).

Additional guest artists, judges, and master teachers during the daily festival events include Mikhail Berestnov (Odyssiad® Official Staff Accompanist); Daria Kiseleva (Odyssiad® Official Staff Accompanist); Jooyeon Chang (Odyssiad® Official Staff Accompanist); Devin Patrick Hughes (Conductor, Boulder Symphony and Symphony of the Rockies), and Scott Wheeler & Allison Pietras (Odyssiad® competition Master of Ceremonies), and others.

The 6-day Odyssiad® Festival, the LIVE Semifinal and Final Rounds of the Odyssiad® Solo and Concerto Competitions, and 6 nights of riveting final round competitions and evening concerts by world-renowned pianists.

For complete Solo and Concerto Division Preliminary Round Guidelines, including repertoire requirements, please select "Odyssiad® Competition Application" as the program under "Start an Application" on the left side of this page. If you have any questions, please contact Odyssiad® Competition Directors, Dr. Cindy Lindeen-Martin and Dr. Iris Zhang, through the Acceptd site.
     
Dr. Cindy Lindeen-Martin and Dr. Iris Zhang
Competition Co-Directors
International Keyboard Odyssiad® and Festival, U.S.A.

For technical assistance please check out the Acceptd Applicant Support Help Desk!