14th Annual Welcome Home Concert

Penelope Keep is 18 years old and a first-year at Stanford University. Growing up around music, she experienced early opportunities to explore her “favorite toy.” Now, she has studied piano for twelve years with many teachers, including Dr. Elizabeth Schumann (at Stanford) and Dr. Judith Widrig (in Bellingham), and performed at concerts and masterclasses across numerous venues.

In the summers of 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023, she was a featured artist at the San Francisco Flower Piano Festival. Also last summer, she attended the Oberlin Conservatory Summer Piano Festival, ranking in the semifinals of their competition. Among other awards, Penelope has received first place in the BMC Competition, BSO Concerto Competition, Bellingham Chapter Competition, and WSMTA Regional Solo and Ensemble Competition, where she went on to earn rankings of Superior in state solo and chamber categories every year she participated.

Penelope also plays jazz saxophone and enjoys the expressions of emotions and ideas that all different types of music afford her. While in Bellingham, she played alto sax in the Sehome High School Jazz Band and the 2024 Washington All-State Jazz Band, busked at the farmers market, and regularly gigged at the Blue Room with Julian MacDonough’s Art Blakey tribute band, Message Received. Now at Stanford, she plays alto in the Stanford Jazz Orchestra and tenor in the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble. As for piano, she is involved with both solo piano and chamber music there, and currently studies with the head of the Stanford piano department, Dr. Elizabeth Schumann.

Penelope looks forward to keeping music as a core joy in her life, always. Although currently undeclared, she plans to either minor or double major in music while pursuing an undergraduate degree focused in Human and Environmental Systems.