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Extraordinary Artists Gather at Gilmore International Piano Festival

Extraordinary Artists Gather at Gilmore International Piano Festival

6 mins

By John Ephland I May. 19, 2026

Sullivan Fortner performs at the Gilmore International Piano Festival in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

(Photo: Chris McGuire)

His stride gave him away. It was closing night, May 10, at the 2026 Gilmore International Piano Festival, and Sullivan Fortner was spotted in the lobby, bouncing about just minutes before he was scheduled to play. Amid a busy yet unaware crowd working their various ways towards seats inside Kalamazoo’s Chenery Auditorium, this reviewer called out, “Hey, Sullivan! What are you doing here?” His answer? “I’m looking for the bathroom!” Well, he found it, all right, only moments later magically crossing the stage with his trio, which included bassist Tyrone Allen II and drummer Kayvon Gordon. The bill would eventually also feature trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and singer Cécile McLorin Salvant.

Little did we know how this past and prologue would play a central role with Fortner’s two appearances in Kalamazoo. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

Backtrack to April 30. Supplanted by not only a Steinway, Fortner — dressed in all black as he emerged from behind the stage — gave the appearance of someone in a playground of sorts, moving between the piano, Fender Rhodes, Mini Moog and an organ that suggested a church visit. Indeed, the concert was billed a “Solo Game,” emphasis on the playful. He began his solo set with an experimental take on Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry About A Thing.” This was after a quite chummy 10-minute welcome chat with his nearly full house of already wined-and-dined audience members. It felt impromptu, spontaneous, but Sullivan Fortner knew what he was doing. A kind of sit-down comedian (behind the keys), one might say he had them in the palm of his hand.

It was, barring the previous week’s Joshua Bell concert, opening night of the festival at the intimate Parish Theatre. A “season that marks not only a gathering of extraordinary artists,” according to Executive & Artistic Director Pierre van der Westhuizen, “but also the beginning of our new annual Festival rhythm.” Since the late ’80s, a biannual event, Fortner’s presence marked yet another first: his being the inaugural Larry J. Bell Jazz Artist Award recipient.

Highlight: Fortner taking encore requests, which settled on an impressionable, imaginative “medley” of Monk tunes, starting off with “Crepuscule With Nellie.”

Festival events, as always, included free offerings. One standout for this reviewer took place at the Kalamazoo Public Library. “A Conversation with Sean Hickey” was a forum for this composer, entrepreneur and A&R director at Pentatone Music to wax eloquent about the music business and what it takes to make it as a musician in this age of the world wide web, social media and AI. A pervasive, relevant theme, Hickey quoting Arnold Schoenberg: “One must be convinced of the infallibility of one’s own fantasy.”

Cyrus Chestnut had two full-house shows at Bell’s Eccentric Cafe on Saturday night. With bassist Laura-Simone and drummer Sean Dobbins, the spirit of Monk reemerged with the trio’s calm and soothing take on “Ask Me Now,” the song working its way into a double-time swing ending with a soft treatment of “Autumn Leaves” in 5/4. A natural blend of jazz and classical (the putative zeitgeist of the festival) was on display a few nights later at the Dalton Recital Hall on Western Michigan University’s campus as a sold-out audience was treated to the respective complexities of Brad Mehldau and Kirin Gerstein “In Dialogue.” Between groove, improv and friendly volleys, a classical vibe predominated.

As with past Gilmore festivals, there were a series of noon shows at the downtown Civic Theater; four to be exact (mirrored by an equal number by all four groups at Battle Creek’s Kool Center). Beginning with 2026 Larry Bell Young Artist Esteban Castro’s trio and continuing with 2026 Bell Young Artist Tyler Bullock’s trio, singer Nicole Zuraitis, and concluding on Friday with the Yes! Trio featuring drummer Ali Jackson, pianist Aaron Goldberg and bassist Omer Avital, the idea of jazz at midday seems to have staying power even as it seems counterintuitive.

Pianists Bill Charlap and Renee Rosnes made two appearances this year, first with a free afternoon jazz master class on campus, the second the following night with two sets at the Williams Theatre, also on campus. On both occasions, the obvious warmth and congeniality of this married pair permeated both their supportive comments to young piano aspirants and, later, performances of mostly standards, including touching treatments of “In Your Own Sweet Way,” “My Funny Valentine” and “Spring Is Here” next to swingers like “Just In Time” (prompted by Charlap’s charming spoken lyric) and an infectious take on Chick Corea’s “Tones For Joan’s Bones.”

Renee Rosnes made a third appearance the next night at Dalton, this time with her group Artemis. The group’s fierce, swinging swagger — also spearheaded by drummer Allison Miller, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, saxophonist Nicole Glover and bassist Noriko Ueda — included covers and standards, including more Monk (“Hackensack”), and was tempered by sweet-nothings like “What The World Needs Now.” “We’re gonna send you home with something pretty,” Rosnes intoned as the group left the exhilarated crowd with an oh-so-sensitive encore rendering of Miles Davis’ “Flamenco Sketches.”

The festival, as always, offered a bevy of serious classical concerts and master classes along with spritely pop-soul-jazz via the trio of the Kandace Springs trio and lively Afro-Cuban jazz with legend Chucho Valdes and his Royal Quartet sponsored by the John Stites Jazz Awards.

By closing time, May 10, Fortner and friends were ending the festival with yet another spirit of spontaneity. “Don’t know what we’re gonna do,” Sullivan shared with the eager crowd at the start. And so the trio headed into a 20-plus minute series of moods, organized improvisation, slow, melodic, swinging. There were names to these parts, of course. Ambrose came out on his own to join the trio with some of his own music, followed by McLorin in a moving, time-stands-still theatrical piece of Greek tragedy.

Getting in a plug for former Kalamazoo Central graduate Abbey Lincoln, the quintet performed a very moving rendition of her “Down Here Below,” pulling the audience in a call-and-response. Two standing ovations later, Sullivan was back, alone. Again, taking requests — echoing opening night — someone was heard shouting “’Round Midnight!” Sure enough, he took the bait, in a kind of reprise medley of Monk tunes.

At song’s end, we could all see him wandering off the stage, replete with that bouncing, confident stride. DB