Rebecca Penneys: Acclaimed pianist aims to spread the 鈥榣anguage of peace鈥�
By KILEY MALLARD, USF Advancement
A CHILD PRODIGY, pianist Rebecca Penneys has been immersed in music since she began playing by ear as a toddler.
It鈥檚 a powerful language, she says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a language of peace, and I鈥檓 definitely an advocate of peace on earth,鈥� she says. 鈥淢usic makes you smarter. When you play an instrument, it changes your thinking. The whole idea is that civilization then can go forward in a more peaceful way.鈥�
She has spent decades working toward that end, both performing and teaching. And, while she officially left the classroom in 2017, retiring to St. Petersburg, she has continued educating and supporting student artists through USF.
In 2013, she launched the Rebecca Penneys Piano Festival, a three-week, tuition-free collegiate piano festival hosted each summer at USF. It draws up to 40 aspiring artists, selected from about 200 applicants, from all over the world. Participants attend private lessons, master classes and concerts 鈥� all led and performed by a who鈥檚 who of pianists.
Recently, Penneys established the Rebecca Penneys USF Music Fund, which provides two-year assistantships to five music master鈥檚 degree students who perform in a chamber music ensemble. Known as the Rebecca Penneys Graduate Collective, it consists of two pianists, a violinist, a violist and a cellist.
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