Five Calgary professionals are set to perform in front of a live audience as part of a competition benefiting Honens.

“The ProAm is actually a competition but it’s with accomplished pianists who’ve chosen another career,” explains Michele Stanners, Honens VP of advancement and engagements. “It could be the engineer, the lawyer down the hall, or a periodontist – which is the situation that we have here.”

Stanners says the performers are wonderful pianists who continue to practice and hone their craft, despite the fact they’ve chosen a non-musical career path.

On November 15, the five competitors will take to the stage of the Rosza Centre at the University of Calgary, with each participant performing a 15 minute recital.

Wendy Liu, vice-president at Arc Financial, a private equity firm, has signed on as a performer. Liu says the opportunity to gain friends and colleagues who share her passion for music drew her to the ProAm.

“I realized (a career in music) just wasn’t in the cards for me, and I did take quite a long hiatus, but the love of music kinda crept up again and I started playing again in March of this year,” explains Liu.

“I’ve been involved in piano since I was much younger, seven years old, and I’ve just kept up this love for music. I thought this was a great opportunity to support the Honens organization.”

The pianists will contribute their music to the evening, but they well also assist financially, as each performer is asked to raise $20,000 for Honens. The Honens ProAm is a friendly competition but the competitors are vying for several prizes in addition to the night’s title.

“We have wonderful prizes like the residency at the Banff Centre, we have music packages, we’ll have restaurant packages,” said Stanners. “I played in it and, I know for me, it was the thrill of getting back to the piano and being able to maybe do something that I always wished I could have done, maybe play in a professional competition, but to do it in a setting that’s friendly and fun.”

Stanners says the fundraising model is similar to marathon participants collecting donations before a race. Donations will assist Honens career development program and ensure the organization continues to operate one of the top piano competitions in the world, the Honens Piano Competition, which is held every three years. The next Honens Piano Competition is scheduled for September 2015.

“On a world scale, we’re recognized as being in the top five,” said Stanners. “We have the largest cash prize at $100,000, we have a career development program valued at half a million, and this is an incredible achievement for Calgary.”

For more information, or to secure tickets for the ProAm, visit Honens.