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Paul Pollei is a missionary of music, a preacher of the piano. The founder and director of the Gina Bachauer Piano International Foundation is always proselyting, and he has thousands of converts.
His efforts will be honored this evening when Pollei receives the 2002 Madeleine Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts in Utah at a dinner at the McCune Mansion in Salt Lake City. The event is by invitation.
Pollei started the Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation 26 years ago, naming it after a Greek pianist/teacher with close ties to Utah and the Utah Symphony. His tireless determination was critical in the Bachauer's survival and rise to prominence among international competitions.
Gene Pack, a member of the Madeleine Arts and Humanities Council, credits Pollei with being "the one who has pushed and prodded and made [the Bachauer] happen, and brought it to the level of excellence it has, and kept it at that level."
Pack calls Pollei "someone who has really made a big difference - - a pioneer who has carved out a niche."
In a 50-year career of teaching piano -- 40 of those spent as a member of the piano faculty at Brigham Young University -- Pollei taught well more than 1,000 individual students. He retired from BYU last year, but continues to teach privately.
Pollei's travels have taken him to 40 countries, where he presents master classes and teacher workshops, adjudicates at piano festivals, and mentors young pianists while auditioning competitors for the Bachauer. He performs widely as a solo artist and as a founding member of the American Piano Quartet.
More Grand Than a Diamond: Pollei was born in...