PianoFest
Featuring Megan Lo and Rowan Sawarna-Small
Saturday, May 23, 2026 | 7:30 PM
Hiway Church, 50 Anne St. N, Barrie, ON L4N 2B6
This concert is our annual showcase of young pianists on the cusp of greatness. Please come out and support these young performers as they pursue their musical dreams. This concert is free or pay what you can.
Performers
Megan Lo started playing piano at the age of five. She is currently studying under the tutelage of Anton Nel and James Anagnoson at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto, Canada on full scholarship. Megan is an alumni of the The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy in Toronto where she studied with Lang Ning Liu. She has worked with many distinguished pianists including John Perry, John O’Conor, Robert Mcdonald, Kevin Kenner, Ronan O’Hora, Jeremy Denk, and Michelle Cann in masterclasses. She has participated in the Orford Music Academy with full scholarship.
Following the award of the Grand Prize of the 2022 OMNI Music Competition by The Orchestre Metropolitain of Montreal, Megan has made her Montreal debut recital at The Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur in the 2022-2023 season. Megan has also performed at Koerner Hall and Mazzoleni Hall of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Flato Markham Theater and PC Ho Theater in Toronto and Gilles-Lefebvre Concert Hall in Quebec.
Megan has been a prize winner in many international piano competitions, the most recent being the 4th prize winner of the Nashville Chopin International Piano Competition and the 1st prize winner of the Sherer International Piano Competition and the inaugural University of Louisville International Piano Competition. She was also the 2nd prize winner in the Arte International Piano Competition and the StayHome Young International Piano Competition. Her other awards from 2020 to 2024 include 1st Prize in the Canadian Music Competition, 1st Prize in the Piano Competition for Canadian High School by Western University’s Don Wright Faculty of Music and Gold Medal in Steinway Canada Young Artist Piano Competition. She was a top 10 finalist in the 2023 Aarhus International Piano Competition.
Other competition credits include the 5th Canadian Chopin Competition, International e-Piano Junior Competition, Canada International Piano Competition, Seattle International Piano Competition and Claudette Sorel Piano Competition.
Please click on the tab below for links to the performer’s website when available.
Performers
Rowan Sawarna-Small, 18, is a pianist described by The Canadian Magazine as “stunning” and “[leaving] the audience breathless” after a concert “characterized by broad tempi, rare poetic rhapsody, and freedom captured in massive and delicate tone.” He began his musical journey at the age of three and is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in piano performance at the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School, supported by the Matthew Baillie full scholarship. Before this, he studied at the Phil and Eli Taylor Academy for Young Artists on a full scholarship. His mentors include John O’Conor and Li Wang, with previous studies under Dianne Werner.
A prizewinner in the Canadian Music Competition, Ontario Provincials, and the Sweetwater Music Festival, Rowan has performed an extensive range of solo and chamber repertoire. He gave the world premiere live performance of Menorah by Christos Hatzis alongside violinist Adriel Sloss and has appeared as a soloist with the Greater Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra and the Brampton Rose Orchestra. Most recently, he performed Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Brampton Rose Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall.
Rowan acknowledges the invaluable support he has received from his teachers and family, which has been instrumental in his development as an artist.
Please click on the tabs below for links to the performer’s website when available.
The Program
Megan will perform works by Scarlatti, Chopin, and Franck. Rowan will perform works by Liszt and Mussorgsky.
Please click on the tab below for an outline of the program.