by Mike Telin
When the names of the eight semi-finalists were announced on Saturday evening shortly after 7:00 pm, four pianists had the daunting pressure of putting the final polishing on their 60-minute recital programs and performing less than 24 hours later. On Sunday, July 31 the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium played host to the first two of four semi-final sessions. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
The last ten of the thirty-one pianists in the 2016 draw played their second round recitals at the Cleveland International Piano Competition on Saturday, July 30 at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Friday’s second round sessions confirmed and built on first impressions, as well as giving some new insights into the playing of eleven talented pianists. [Read more…]
by Neil McCalmont
The Second Round of CIPC commenced on Thursday, July 28, and the jury and audience were treated to two sessions of stellar performances at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium. The competition is only heating up. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
On Wednesday, July 27, the final eleven contestants at the Cleveland International Piano Competition made their first impressions on the jury and audience in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
One of the more attractive aspects of the Cleveland International Piano competition is that all competitors get to play two rounds before eliminations begin. So if your first round program didn’t go as well as you hoped, you have a second opportunity to make a positive impression. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
For many keyboard players, performing J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations is a daunting task, but jazz pianist Dan Tepfer has taken things one step further. Not only does he play the monumental work in its entirety, he follows each of Bach’s 30 variations with one of his own.
On Sunday, July 31 at 8:00 pm in the Maltz Center for the Performing Arts, Dan Tepfer will present his critically acclaimed project titled “Goldberg Variations/Variations” as part of the Cleveland International Piano Competition and Festival.
By his own admission, Tepfer’s upbringing was anything but typical. “I grew up in Paris, France with American parents, and outside of popular culture. We never had a TV, but I played a lot of music and read a lot of books, so the way I experienced culture was different,” the pianist said during a telephone conversation from his home in Brooklyn, New York. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Clevelanders and classical music fans near and far already know Zsolt Bognár as a talented concert pianist who specializes in Germanic, Russian, and Romantic repertoire. But there’s more. He’s a writer, a speaker, and a skilled interviewer. His speaking engagements have included two TEDMED talks and guest appearances on National Public Radio programs dealing with a variety of subjects. And he’s recently become the Charlie Rose of the classical music world as host of the Elyria Pictures film series “Living the Classical Life.”
As part of the Cleveland International Piano Competition’s 2016 Festival, Bognár will emcee three morning sessions this week in the Lecture Hall at the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
When pianists Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe left their respective hometowns in the Midwest to pursue their undergraduate studies at the Juilliard School, the two found themselves by happenstance assigned to the same floor of the famed music school’s dormitory.
The two became fast friends and soon discovered that they had a shared mission for their musical lives: to make classical music a relevant and powerful force in society. “Both of us had big dreams of how to do that,” Roe said during a recent joint telephone conversation with Greg Anderson. “So we both unexpectedly found the perfect partner in crime.” [Read more…]
by Neil McCalmont
The opening sessions of the Cleveland International Piano Competition’s first round proved to be a thrilling start on Monday, July 25 at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium. Eleven fine contestants showcased their virtuosity and poesy before eight jurors — all of whom are renowned pianists in their own right. [Read more…]