Hastings International Piano Engagement Projects

The Hastings Musical Festival was formed as a competitive festival of music, elocution, drama and dance on an annual basis, and to promote education in these fields. This festival continues to take place each year in February/March at the White Rock Theatre. Proceeds from the annual festival are used to provide grants to young people intending to study and pursue a career in the performing arts, to further the charity’s aims. The piano concerto class from Hastings Musical Festival has evolved into the prestigious Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, attracting competitors from around the world. Until 2019 this took place annually in February/March, but is now biennial (the next competition being in 2021). In the years in which the Piano Concerto Competition is not held, Hastings International Piano Festival will take place in venues around Hastings in February/March. The purpose of the piano festival is to both to raise funds for the concerto competition, and to fulfil the aims of the charity in promoting education in music, by incorporating educational events at local schools and promoting tickets for young people of Hastings and the South Coast.