Special Recognition

George and Virginia Sidwell:
Playing a Key Role in the 2007 Kapell Competition

The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is very pleased to recognize George and Virginia Sidwell posthumously as major contributors to the 2007 William Kapell International Piano Competition and Festival. In 2004, the Center became the beneficiary of a substantial bequest from George and Virginia, who passed away within months of each other. The Sidwells were dedicated to classical music, doing their part to ensure its continued prominence at the University of Maryland.

George and Virginia were active in the Friends of the Maryland Summer Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts and helped facilitate its transformation into the Friends of the Rossborough Festival. They also participated in many of the group's hospitality activities, and Virginia was a member of the board.

Virginia made a special contribution serving as the editor of the Friends' newsletter for 11 years (1983 – 1994). She skillfully coaxed other members of the Friends into serving as authors and reporters and documented the constantly-evolving annual programs, especially the grand variety of competitions, as well as the National Orchestral Institute. According to an announcement about Virginia's retirement, the newsletter "changed from a typed-and-Xeroxed mailing to an elegantly printed publication full of photographs and news during her editorship."

The Clarice Smith Center is deeply grateful for the generosity of George and Virginia Sidwell. To honor their profound support, we dedicate the opening of the 2007 Kapell Competition and Festival to the Sidwells and ask that everyone keep in mind their involvement with this distinguished quadrennial event while enjoying this year's festival.

Friends of the Rossborough Festival

The Maryland Summer Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts operated on the University of Maryland College Park campus from 1982 – 2000. Under the leadership of George Moquin, the Institute organized and sponsored a variety of international piano competitions and festivals. Friends of the Institute, which soon became the Friends of The Rossborough Festival, made these events possible through their dedication and generous financial investments.

Several activities supported by the Friends included sponsoring housing and transportation for competitors; the commissioning of new works for semi-finalists to perform by composers such as John Cage, Ned Rorem and Henri Dutilleux; and the underwriting of performances by Kapell Laureates at the Library of Congress, the Phillips Collection and the Cosmos Club.

The Clarice Smith Center greatly appreciates the continued support of many former Friends of the Rossborough Festival, including J.D. Williams, John Layman and several of our semi-final prize contributors.