Val Underwood is Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Hawaii Performing Arts Festival. He balances a distinguished career as both a voice teacher and pianist, whose playing the Los Angeles Times praised as “exquisite.” He regularly teaches in Los Angeles, New York, and London, successfully training concert pianists and internationally recognized vocalists. His foundational teachers included Arminda Canteros, a protégé of Vincenzo Scaramuzza, as well as Reginald Stewart, Dora Zaslavsky, Martial Singher, and Ernest St. John Metz. Underwood served as a studio accompanist for legendary artists including Lotte Lehmann, George London, Rose Bampton, and Martial Singher, and has collaborated with principal players from the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics. He has performed with an array of internationally acclaimed artists, including Mitchell Lurie, Eudice Shapiro, Glenn Dicterow, Ofra Harnoy, Gary Gray, Jeannine Altmeyer, Jennifer McGregor, and Ricky Ian Gordon. His screen credits include the masterpiece production of The Song of the Lark. After serving as Executive Director of the Malibu Strawberry Creek Music Festival and Vocal Director of the Adriatic Chamber Music Festival, Underwood co-founded HPAF with Genette Freeman.
