Thursday • May 22, 2025
The Florida Theatre
128 E. Forsyth Street #300, Jacksonville, FL 32202
Doors open at 6 PM • Competition begins at 7 PM
This is a free event, no ticket is required for entry.
For over thirty years, the Jacksonville Piano Competition presented by Yamaha has been a cherished tradition at the jazz fest. This event remains one of the most thrilling musical spectacles around!
Five finalists, representing the pinnacle of jazz pianists worldwide, are selected by a blind panel of judges to vie for a cash prize and the opportunity to perform on the Hart Bridge Stage presented by Publix at this year’s festival. This intense competition has become a cornerstone of the festival, beloved by many as a chance to witness extraordinary emerging talents in the jazz scene.
Renowned jazz legends like Marcus Roberts, Brian Culbertson, Christian Sands, Jason Miles, Joey Calderazzo, Lynne Arriale, Dr. John, Per Danielsson, John Thomas, and others have graced the judging panel in the past, adding to the prestige and excitement of the event.
The Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition presented by Yamaha is free to attend, no ticket required! Attendees that have purchased Full Festival VIP packages will have reserved seating at this event.
The application period for this competition closed on Sunday, February 23rd.
2025 Piano Competition Finalists
José André
José André is a jazz pianist who taught himself how to play piano at an early age. He is a musician who flavors his tunes with many different rhythms, including swing, Brazilian Samba, Bossa Nova, Latin jazz, and other fusion – Latin American genres like Candombe or Murga. Despite his early age he has already delighted audiences from important festivals and concert halls across many different continents in the world. Some of the countries he had the pleasure to perform at were Finland, Malaysia, Italy, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and many others. In Washington DC, he has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center, DC Jazz Festival, Blues Alley, and other venues. He has shared stage with great musicians, including Marcus Miller, Jason Moran and Michael Bowie. Jose graduated from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in 2024. His talent has led him to be on the list for the piano chair in many big bands including the National Youth Orchestra Jazz, Blues Alley Youth Orchestra, the NJW All-Star Jazz Orchestra and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts Jazz Orchestra. He was selected as part of the Vaill Jazz All Stars ensemble to perform at their Jazz festival in Colorado. José André was part of the National Peer- to- Peer program from the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz. This program selects some of the nation’s most talented student jazz musicians across all of the United States to be featured in ensembles. He is one of the award winners of the 2019 V S A, an International Young Soloists Competition, which recognizes talented, emerging artists with disabilities from all over the world. His current teacher and mentor is a remarkable pianist and composer, Cyrus Chestnut. As part of the Kennedy Center’s 50th anniversary, Jose Andre was selected as one of The Kennedy Center’s Next 50 leaders that through his art is always transmitting love and passion, moving towards an inspired, inclusive, and compassionate world: lighting the way forward. He is a First Year Undergrad at the Juilliard School, studying Jazz piano. He recently record his new album entitled “Jazz Journey”, consisting of his view towards the world through music, and specifically jazz. He will release this project in the coming weeks. As he always says, “Life is beautiful if you love your differences. We always have to see life with a great smile every day.”
Now, his journey continues preparing for his new projects.
Zachary Bartholomew
Dr. Zachary Bartholomew is an award-winning pianist, composer, and music educator who maintains a highly active performance career as one of the most heavily sought-after pianists, accompanists, and sidemen in all of Florida. In both 2016 and 2017, he placed as one of the top three finalists in the highly acclaimed Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition and every year since 2021 has been awarded the prestigious “Artist Performance on Tour” grant from the state of Florida for his “Jazz Access Tour,” an outreach program that aims to provide underserved communities and schools in Florida with world-class public performances and educational programs.
Zach has headlined at some of the top jazz venues and performing arts centers in the country and has been featured at national and international jazz festivals including the Jacksonville Jazz Festival, St. Petersburg Jazz Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival, Jalisco Jazz Festival, and Festival Miami. He has performed with artists such as Sean Jones, Victor Goines, Dave Holland, David Liebman, Ira Sullivan, Carmen Bradford, Byron Stripling, and Dan Miller. He is a full-time music professor at Florida Memorial University, the pianist for the Gulf Coast Jazz Collective, and performs regularly with professional organizations such as the Sarasota Pops Orchestra, Naples Philharmonic, and the Lake Wales Jazz Connection. Additionally, he is a Resident Artist at Arts Bonita in Bonita Springs, FL where he presents a monthly jazz concert series that features musicians from all over the country. His self-released debut album, Balancing Act, made both the JazzWeek and NACC Jazz Charts within its first week of release in August 2024 and continues to receive positive accolades from journalists and music critics from around the world.
Max Gage
Max Gage is a rising star in the jazz world, a self-taught pianist from Grand Rapids, Michigan, whose musical journey began early in life. Surrounded by music from his mother, Max was drawn to improvisation and quickly began teaching himself to play piano by ear, recreating orchestral parts. His passion for music deepened throughout his childhood, and by the age of 12, he became the youngest member ever to join the Grand Rapids Symphonette. His involvement in his high school jazz band sparked a fascination with jazz, leading him to study under the guidance of Xavier Davis at Michigan State University.
Max quickly became a prominent figure in the Michigan jazz scene, and would go on to tour with ensembles such as the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. His growing reputation also led to an international tour with Seabourn Cruise Ship, performing jazz across Europe and the Middle East, as well as tours with Michael Dease’s band.
A versatile musician, Max has served as the resident pianist at The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed alongside jazz luminaries such as Walter Blanding and Lenora Helm-Hammonds. As a bandleader and featured artist, Max has captivated audiences at a range of prominent jazz venues and festivals, but his true passion lies in supporting the music and nurturing the next generation of musicians through teaching.
Currently pursuing his Master’s degree in Jazz Studies at Michigan State University, Max continues to grow as both an artist and educator, dedicated to the development of both music and people.
Roman Goron
Roman Goron is a 19-year-old French-Filipino-American Jazz Pianist and Composer based in Seattle, WA. Through the piano, Roman aims to bridge his passions for sound, visual imagery and storytelling. Focused on playing harmonically rich acoustic jazz, Roman leads his own trio, the Roman Goron Trio, with whom he performs regularly. He also arranges and composes original material.
Roman was born in Washington, DC, where he began playing piano at age 5, then moved to Paris with his family at eight. Roman’s interest in Jazz arose from his discovery of jazz fusion during his time in Paris learning Solfege and Music theory at The Scola Cantorum. Moving back to the States in 2018, he further developed his craft in the jazz programs at Bellevue High School and Bellevue College alongside his own self-teaching. During these years Roman received numerous awards and accolades for his playing, including a Young Arts National Foundation of the Arts Jazz Piano and Jazz Composition award as well as two Downbeat Student Music Awards in 2024. Today Roman is working his way into the Seattle Jazz Scene, performing throughout the city with many seasoned professionals and up-and-comers alike, as well as working on a project comprised of his own original material.
Lucas LaBeau
Lucas LaBeau is an accomplished musician, producer, and songwriter from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From an early age, he had figured out songs he heard around the house by ear. He began formal classical piano training at the age of 4, and later took an interest in jazz, R&B, and latin music: all the music he had heard in his household. Lucas has made it his goal to be multifaceted – he is an accomplished classical violinist, having performed in the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, he is a music producer and writer working with artists and singers, and he even has taken up guitar and bass. He is currently studying Independent Recording and Production at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, on a full-tuition scholarship.
2025 Master of Ceremonies & Rhythm Section
Noel Freidline & Maria Howell
Master of Ceremonies • Performer
John Lumpkin II
DRUMS
Dennis Marks
BASS
