Review: Oberlin Cooper Piano Competition Final Round at Severance Hall
by Daniel Hathaway
L-R: Xiaoyu Liu, Leonardo Colafelice, and Micah McLaurin. Photo: Roger Mastroianni.
The prize money for the three top winners in the Oberlin Cooper Competition is impressive, but the opportunity for teenaged pianists to play full concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra has to be, as the credit card commercial put it, priceless. They had that opportunity during the Final Round of the competition on Friday evening, July 27, in Severance Hall, in front of a live audience, radio and Internet listeners over WCLV and a panel of distinguished judges.
During a grueling week’s worth of semifinal, concerto and recital rounds at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the original draw of competitors had been gradually winnowed down from thirty-three to sixteen, then to ten, to six and to three. Earlier in the week, it seemed statistically possible that the final round might include three performances of Rachmaninov’s second concerto, but that didn’t happen. The final three, 17-year-old Micah McLaurin (right) from Charleston, S.C., 15-year-old Xiaoyu Liu (left) from Montréal, and 16-year-old Leonardo Colafelice (center) from Bari, Italy, would play one Chopin and two different Rachmaninov’s for the panel of judges to determine the ranking of their prizes.
[Read more…]
Oberlin Cooper International Piano Competition: Winners Announced
Cleveland, OH — Friday, July 27
Leonardo Colafelice with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra (photo: Roger Mastroianni)
Following the Final Round with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra tonight in Severance Hall, competition sponsors Thomas and Evon Cooper awarded the top prizes in the Oberlin Cooper International Piano Competition.
FIRST PRIZE: Leonardo Colafelice, 16, Altamura, Bari, Italy — Rachmaninov: Concerto No. 3
SECOND PRIZE: Xiaoyu Liu, 15, Montréal, Québec, Canada — Rachmaninov: Concerto No. 2
THIRD PRIZE: Micah McLaurin, 17, Charleston, SC — Chopin: Concerto No. 2
The performances were broadcast live over WCLV, 104.9 FM.
Oberlin Cooper International Piano Competition: Four prizes awarded, Liu, Colafelice & McLaurin advance to Final Round
Oberlin, OH — Thursday, July 26
L-R: Xiaoyu Liu, Leonardo Colafelice, and Micah McLaurin. Photo: Roger Mastroianni
Following the Recital Round on Wednesday evening in Warner Concert Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the judges for the Cooper International Piano Competition announced the names of the three contestants who will compete on Friday evening in Severance Hall with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra. They are, in performance order:
Xiaoyu Liu, 15, Montréal, Québec, Canada — Rachmaninov: Concerto No. 2
Micah McLaurin, 17, Charleston, SC — Chopin: Concerto No. 2
Leonardo Colafelice, 16, Altamura, Bari, Italy — Rachmaninov: Concerto No. 3
The 8 pm performance will be broadcast live over WCLV, 104.9 FM. Tickets are available from the Severance Hall box office, 216.231.11111 or can be ordered online. A free performance at 4pm in Reinberger Chamber Music Hall will feature outstanding performances from the Semifinals Round.
Wednesday evening’s emcee, WCLV president Robert Conrad, also announced winners of four prizes:
The audience favorite award went to Leonardo Colafelice.
The sixth-place winner was Sarina Zhang, 16, from San Diego, CA
Tieing for the fourth-place prize were Sahun Hong, 18, of Fort Worth, TX, and Annie Zhou, 14, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Oberlin Cooper International Piano Competition: Six advance to Recital Round
Oberlin, OH — Tuesday, July 24
Following the Concerto Round on Tuesday evening, the judges for the Cooper International Piano Competition announced the names of the six contestants who will compete on Wednesday evening in the Recital Round. Each will play a 20-minute recital. The 7 pm performance will be broadcast live over WCLV, 104.9 FM. The concert is free and open to the public.
The six contestants are listed in performing order:
Sarina Zhang, 16, San Diego, CA
Sahun Hong, 18, Fort Worth, TX
Xiaoyu Liu, 15, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Micah McLaurin, 17, Charleston, SC
Annie Zhou, 14, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Leonardo Colafelice, 16, Altamura, Bari, Italy
Click here to download the program book with biographies. (pdf file, 5mb).
Oberlin Cooper International Piano Competition: Concerto Round 2
Oberlin, OH — Tuesday, July 24
by Daniel Hathaway
The evening session of the Concerto Round brought the final five performers to the Warner Concert Hall stage along with the opportunity of hearing three more performances of Rachmaninov #2 and two versions of Chopin #2. Remember those “compare and contrast” exam questions? We’ll try to treat each repeat performance as if we were hearing it for the first time.
Micah McLaurin, 17, from Charleston, NC went first with Chopin’s second concerto. Sitting ramrod straight and barely changing his expression, Mr. McLaurin established a ruminative, poetic mood matched by an agreeably elastic tempo. His feathery touch produced beautiful, well-organized runs with shape and a sense of destination. But as the piece flowed on, Mr. McLaurin seemed largely to be playing on the surface of the music rather than digging into its underlying layers. Alicja Basinska was the attentive and supportive second pianist.
[Read more…]
Oberlin Cooper International Piano Competition: Concerto Round 1
Oberlin, OH — Tuesday, July 24
by Daniel Hathaway
There was a lot of impressive teen-aged piano prowess on display this afternoon in Warner Concert Hall as the Oberlin Cooper International Piano Competition went into the first of two concerto rounds and five of the ten competitors left in the draw played whole concertos by Beethoven, Rachmaninov and Schumann with a second piano filling in for the orchestra. (The three who are left at the end will get to play concertos for real with The Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Hall on Friday evening).
15-year old Rachel Breen from Oakland, CA set the bar high with an assured performance of Beethoven’s fourth concerto that adroitly pointed up both its exquisite seriousness and its sudden bursts of playfulness. She knew the piece thoroughly and communicated with her “orchestra” (pianist Yu Sakamoto) as though they were playing chamber music together (at the beginning of the second movement, hands in lap, she mimed playing along with the orchestra). Ms. Breen dispatched sequences of runs with sensitivity and clarity and made lovely transitions between sections. [Read more…]
Oberlin Cooper International Piano Competition: the 10 Concerto Round Semifinalists
Oberlin, OH — Monday, July 23
The following ten pianists will compete in this order in Tuesday’s Concerto Round. ClevelandClassical will report from Warner Concert Hall at Oberlin after each of the two sessions, which will begin at 1:30 pm and 7:30 pm.
Rachel Breen, 15, Oakland, CA – Beethoven 4
Sae Yoon Chon, 16, Seoul, South Korea – Beethoven 5
Leonardo Colafelice, 16, Altamura, Bari, Italy – Rachmaninov 3
Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner, 15, New York, NY – Rachmaninov 2
Phoebe Pan, 14, Ivine, CA – Schumann
Micah McLaurin, 17, Charleston, SC – Chopin 2
Xiaoyu Liu, 15, Montréal, Québec, Canda – Rachmaninov 2
Annie Zhou, 14, Toronto, Ontario, Canada – Chopin 2
Sarina Zhang, 16, San Diego, CA – Rachmaninov 2
Sahun Hong, 18, Ft. Worth, TX – Rachmaninov 2
Click here to download the program book with biographies. (pdf file, 5mb).
Oberlin Cooper International Piano Competition: the 16 Semifinalists
Oberlin, OH — Monday, July 23
The following sixteen pianists will compete today in this order for ten positions in Tuesday’s Concerto Round. ClevelandClassical will report from Oberlin after each of the two Tuesday sessions, which will begin at 1:30 pm and 7:30 pm.
Rachel Breen, 15, Oakland, CA
Amiran Zenaishvili, 16, Moscow, Russian Federation
Sae Yoon Chon, 16, Seoul, South Korea
Jun Hwi Cho, 16, Seoul, South Korea
Leonardo Colafelice, 16, Altamura, Bari, Italy
Dong Won Lee, 18, Redmond, WA
Yishan Hong, 17, Beijing, China
Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner, 15, New York, NY
Phoebe Pan, 14, Ivine, CA
Micah McLaurin, 17, Charleston, SC
Xiaoyu Liu, 15, Montréal, Québec, Canda
Hyung-Do Kim, 16, Palisades Park, NJ
Annie Zhou, 14, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Christopher Son Richardson, 14, Danville, CA
Sarina Zhang, 16, San Diego, CA
Sahun Hong, 18, Ft. Worth, TX
Click here to download the program book with biographies. (pdf file, 5mb).
Classical Guitar Weekend: conversations with guitarist Pavel Steidl and luthier Bernhard Kresse
By Daniel Hathaway and Mike Telin
Recitals, lectures and exhibitions by international artists and craftsmen will mark the twelfth annual Classical Guitar Weekend to be held at the Cleveland Institute of Music from Friday, June 1 through Sunday, June 3 under the auspices of Classical Guitars International.
Featured recitalists will include CIM’s own Jason Vieaux with soprano Jung Eun Oh; SoloDuo with Matteo Mela and Lorenzo Micheli (Italy); Gaëlle Solal (France); and Pavel Steidl (Czech Republic), and lectures will be given by Jonathan Fitzgerald (USA, “Listening and Re-listening: opening your ears to new sounds”); Alan Bise (Azica Records, Cleveland, “The Recording Process: from artistic vision to retail sale”); and Bernhard Kresse (Germany, “The Viennese 19th century Guitar Making Tradition”).
Although all the events center around the classical guitar, two are linked by a certain style of instrument. Pavel Steidl will play his Friday evening recital on a copy of a nineteenth-century Viennese instrument built by Bernhard Kresse. We spoke with Steidl via Skype in Mexico, where he was on tour, and with Kresse by phone in Köln, to learn more about the recital and this special instrument.
Pavel Steidl
“You can compare the period guitar from the nineteenth century and the modern guitar with the Hammerklavier and the modern Steinway”, Steidl told us. “The modern instrument is more resonant and seems to produce more sound, but the romantic instrument separates the voices more clearly and produces huge, rich colors. Maybe the sound seems smaller, but in my experience, the projection of the sound is very good”. [Read more…]