Pianist Kevin Ayesh to open Rancho Bernardo Library’s Discovery Concert Series

The Rancho Bernardo Library’s free Discovery Concert Series is opening its 2025-26 season with a guest pianist from South Carolina.

Kevin Ayesh will present “Piano Masterpieces & Favorites” at 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13 in the library’s second-floor community room, 17110 Bernardo Center Drive. Seating is on a first-come basis.

Ayesh said he will perform four selections during the hour-long concert: Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata in C Minor, Op. 13 “Pathétique”; Johannes Brahms’ Intermezzo in A Major, Op. 118, No. 2; Frédéric Chopin’s Sonata in B Minor, Op. 58, IV (Finale: Presto, non tanto) and George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”

“I am grateful for this opportunity, as this will be my first time giving a library concert in Southern California,” Ayesh said.

He is a frequent visitor to the area due to having relatives living in San Diego. A while back he read about the library’s free series and contacted organizers to offer a concert when visiting again.

Ayesh currently teaches applied piano at Spartanburg Methodist College in South Carolina. Before that, for nearly three decades, he was the head of the music department and artistic director of the concert series at Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock, North Carolina.

The Wichita, Kansas native said he graduated with highest honors when earning a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Texas at Austin, then earned his master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Maryland.

“I started playing piano at 8 years old, won a concerto competition in fifth grade and gave my first public solo recital in sixth,” Ayesh said when asked how he became a professional pianist. “I just fell in love with it, in the beginning. I knew pretty early on that I loved doing this.”

He said that love began right after he pressed the keys on a piano at a neighbor’s house.

Over the decades, Ayesh has given concerts in all 50 states, throughout Canada, much of Europe and Hong Kong. This included being the featured guest artist and clinician at the Lindlar International Piano Festival in Germany, the Star Valley Junior Music Festival in Wyoming, the Gene Marcus Piano Festival at Purdue University-Fort Wayne, the USA Piano Camp at the University of South Alabama and the Dr. Sharyn Edwards Piano Festival in North Carolina in addition to performing with numerous orchestras, according to his bio.

He has also received numerous awards and adjudicated for several Music Teachers National Association auditions for state conventions.

Ayesh said he has only had three instructors. His first piano teacher, Elinor Aiken, lived a block away and taught him for a decade.

“She was one of the finest teachers in Wichita,” he said.

At the University of Texas he was taught by William Race and at the University of Maryland, Nelita True. Ayesh credited all three with him becoming the pianist that he is today.

As for his Rancho Bernardo concert, Ayesh said he chose pieces that he knows from experience are popular with audiences.

“I always talk about the pieces because audiences really appreciate that,” he said. “I like having the opportunity to say a few words about the piece and my relation to the piece.”

The Rancho Bernardo Library’s Discovery Concert Series offers free monthly concerts at 3 p.m. on the second Saturday of each month from September to May, except there is no December concert.

Those scheduled for the rest of the 2025-26 series are the Poway Symphonette presenting its “Spooktacular” on Oct. 11, accordionist Gordon Kohl on Nov. 8, marimba player David Topham on Jan. 10, violinist Jennifer Albrent on Feb. 14, the San Diego Community Jazz Band on March 14, five “Rising Young Stars” in the San Diego area on April 11 and pianist Michael Krause on May 9.

For questions, call 858-538-8163.