Mason Kistler

        American pianist, organist, composer and educator Mason Kistler is a young artist known for his presence and discipline on the piano. From performing in Italy, Czechia, United States and more, Mason is an active collaborator and musician.
        Currently, Mason is furthering his education, pursuing a Master of Piano Performance from the University of Louisville (UofL) in Kentucky. There, he studies with Bulgarian pianist, Anna Petrova, who is renowned for her soloistic playing, collaboration and artistry; as well as American pianist, Jeffery Jamner. In his education, Mason studied and worked with many esteemed pianists: Ken Hanks, Ghadeer Abaido, Svetozar Ivanov, Annie Cheng, Stin DeCock, David Kalhous, Lora Tchekoratova, Esther Park, and Henry Kramer.
        As a pianist, Mason is an active performer and collaborator. At the age of 18, he won First Place in the Musicians Division of the 2020 Spotlight on Talent Competition for young artists in Florida. In 2023, he appeared at the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Piobbico, Italy, performing selections from Claude Debussy's Suite bergamasque. At the age of 22, he performed the complete Suite bergamasque as well as Shostakovich’s Second Piano Concerto for two pianos. During the same year, Mason traveled to Prague, Czechia and participated in the 2024 Prague International Piano festival. At the age of 23, Mason attended the 2025 UofL Piano Festival in Louisville, Kentucky, and attended the 2026 Geneva Music Festival in Geneva, New York.
        When not attending festivals, Mason frequently visits chamber music, having performed various works from the catalogue of piano duet and piano trio repertoire. As a soloist, he has performed large collections of romantic music, such as Chopin’s Op.28 Preludes, Op.23 Ballade in G-minor, Schumann’s Geistervariationen (Ghost Variations), Liszt’s Liebesträume no.3, Schubert Impromptus, Amy Beach Barcarolle in G-minor and more. He is active as an accompanist, performing piano roles in string, vocal, brass and woodwind repertoire.
        As an organist, Mason studied with Jack Ashworth, an organist who is a specialist in early period keyboard playing and performance practice. Currently, Mason is active in his community performing the organ for his local church and showcasing improvisations or short works for the instrument on his social media pages.
        As a composer, Mason has seen his own works performed and studied with various composers such as Justin Giarrusso, Robert Bradshaw, and Mark Olivieri. His compositional style is Neo-Romantic, focused on orchestral writing and chamber music. He was the winner of the 2024 Young Composers Forum, apart of the Tennessee Valley Music Festival, and won a compositional award for his “Summer in Prague, for solo piano” at the 2024 Prague International Piano Festival. He is active as a reviewer of scores with the website, “Young Composers Forum” which has been a free, online resource for composers to ask questions, publish music and engage with a larger group of musicians.
        As an educator, Mason currently teaches piano privately in Louisville, Kentucky. He has worked with various organizations, schools and festivals, where he has acted as a teacher, assistant, performer, or coordinator. When not actively teaching, he is a researcher, having studied the relationship of 18th and 19th century composers to the societal changes of the time, and focusing on how major events impacted the music of famous composers