Jury Member, 2026 Kaufman Music Center International Youth Piano Competition
Pierre van der Westhuizen, Executive and Artistic Director, came to The Gilmore International Piano Festival in January 2018 after leading the Cleveland International Piano Competition for six years. He is a seasoned arts administrator, concert pianist and academic. A native of South Africa, van der Westhuiizen earned his Bachelor of Music from Northwest University in Potchefstroom, South Africa and Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.
He and his wife Sophie often perform as the Westhuizen Duo and held teaching posts in piano at Heidelberg University in Ohio, where they developed a piano competition and festival over their six-year tenure. Recruited to the Cleveland International Piano Competition (CIPC) in 2011, van der Westhuizen transformed the competition from a single event into a full-fledged arts organization by developing a festival approach.
Van der Westhuizen has served as juror for several international competitions including the Cleveland, Scriabin (Italy), MozArte (Germany), and UNISA (South Africa) international piano competitions, as well as the International German Piano Awards in Frankfurt, Germany. He regularly lectures on arts administrative topics, as well as teaching master classes at institutions such as Chautauqua Institute, College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Cleveland Institute of Music, the Philadelphia Young Pianist's Academy, and the Colorado International Piano Festival. Van der Westhuizen also served on the boards of the Yun Foundation (Philadelphia) and Magistera Soloists (Canada), as well as the Honorary Committee for Astral Artists (Philadelphia), and is currently on the Advisory Board for the Avery Fisher Career Grants in New York.
