School captures Liberace Foundation grants

Julia Ageyeva

"The Liberace Foundation is dedicated to helping young pianists achieve their dreams of piano study at major music schools." -- Wayne Bailey, Director of the School of Music

Two of the School of Music's top undergraduate piano majors have been awarded the school's first grants from the Liberace Foundation for the Performing and Creative Arts. Both are international students, Julia Ageyeva is from Eastern Europe's Estonia and Yali Luo is from the Szechwan Province in the People's Republic of China.

"People often think of Liberace as a flashy entertainer interested in sequins and candelabra, but he was a serious pianist and began his career as a concert pianist," notes Wayne Bailey, Director of the School of Music. "We are very grateful to the foundation for this gift."

Both ASU students have reputations as excellent students and as concert artists. Ageyeva's focus is two-fold: for the piano, her major professor is Walter Cosand and for harpsichord, she studies John Metz, Director of Early Music Studies. Luo's major professor is Robert Hamilton. The grants were awarded to Ageyeva and Luo based on academics, juried performances and faculty recommendations. Following graduation with a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance, Luo plans to pursue a career as a concert pianist and as a professor of keyboard at the university level. Ageyeva plans to continue her education through the Doctorate in pursuit of a career in performance and teaching.

Yali Luo

Although grateful for the Liberace Foundation support, neither Ageyeva nor Luo knew of Liberace before the grant awarding process. Heralded for several decades as a top showman and performer, Liberace is probably best remembered for his glitzy productions in the venues of Las Vegas. However, his piano studies have much in common with those of Ageyeva and Luo.

When he was seven, Liberace received a scholarship to the Milwaukee Conservatory of Music in Wisconsin, where he was a serious student of classical music. For the next 17 years, scholarships would play a crucial role in the continuing musical education of a man who would become one of the world's most famous entertainers.

Liberace never forgot his debt to scholarships. In 1976, he established the Liberace Foundation for the Performing and Creative Arts. He considered the foundation as one of his greatest achievements. To date, the foundation has provided more than $4 million in scholarship grants to more than 100 of the nation's premier arts institutions and community organizations.

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