Looking Ahead: New Concert Series Opens at USU March 28

A new concert series has been established at Utah State University that honors the dedication of a respected and well-loved faculty member in the Caine College of the Arts.

The Smiley Amano Distinguished Performers Concert Series was created to recognize and honor the lifetime commitment to the students of Utah State University by professor Gary Amano, director of piano studies in the CCA. The concert series’ inaugural performance by pianist Mary Anne Huntsman, accompanied by Amano, is March 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the Caine Performance Hall on the USU Logan campus.

Named in honor of Gary Amano’s mother, Smiley Waki Amano, the series annually presents a former student of professor Amano in public performances celebrating music and music education.

“My mother always involved herself in helping out with my activities and taking an interest in all of my students and their accomplishments,” Amano said. “She couldn’t play an instrument or even read music, yet she was often my best critic and had the musical ear of an educated musician.”

Smiley and Yosh Amano, Gary’s parents, displayed their devotion to his musical education by driving him eight hours every other week from Helper, Utah, to Logan for piano lessons with USU professor Irving Wassermann.

Smiley Amano passed away in 2002 and today the Smiley Amano Memorial Scholarship at USU is presented annually to a student who combines talent with the hard work and dedication that professor Amano learned and his parents displayed throughout their lives.

“By adding the Smiley Amano Distinguished Performers Concert Series to the Caine College of the Arts offerings, we honor the Amano family and its dedication to music education,” said Craig Jessop, dean of the Caine College of the Arts. “We couldn’t be more pleased for former student and world class performer Mary Anne Huntsman to open the series.”

Huntsman began studying with Amano at the age of 7. She said he listened to her play and saw something that other teachers did not see at the time.

“I was playing everything by ear but couldn’t read a single note,” Huntsman said. “Professor Amano transformed me within a year and I won my first piano competition at USU.”

Huntsman knew at age 5 that she wanted to be a concert pianist, but hadn’t found the right teacher until she auditioned with professor Amano.

“Not only was he my teacher, but a second father to me,” Huntsman said. “I never dreamed I’d be coming back to USU to give my own recital. USU is a place that I hold dear to my heart. This is where it all began for me. I couldn’t be more honored to perform for the Smiley Amano Concert Series, as Smiley was also a special person to me.”

Amano taught Mary Anne intermittently during the time her family moved from Utah, living in various locations around the country.

“I recognized very early Mary Anne’s talent and have always admired her determination to become good through self-motivation and drive in spite of many years of activities that pulled her in other directions,” Amano said.

Amano continues the tradition of outstanding piano performance and pedagogy begun by his mentor, Wassermann. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School in New York. He returned to USU to teach and founded the USU Youth Conservatory, where more than 300 pianists from ages 4-18 take weekly piano lessons and musicianship classes.

Amano’s students have won first place or grand prizes in numerous competitions, including the Kingsville International, the Stravinsky International, the MTNA Wurlitzer, Yamaha and Baldwin National Competitions, the Young Keyboard Artists Association International and the Kosciusko National Chopin Competition.

The inaugural Smiley Amano Distinguished Performers Concert Series featuring Mary Anne Huntsman is free, but tickets are required. For more information and to pick up tickets, contact the CCA Box Office located in room L101 of the Chase Fine Arts Center on USU’s Logan campus, call 435-797-8022 or see the college’s Production Services website.

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Writer and contact: Whitney Schulte, 435-797-9203, whitney.schulte@usu.edu