by Daniel Hathaway
Following the second Concerto Round on Saturday evening at Severance Hall with The Cleveland Orchestra, the jury announced the prizewinners in the 2021 Cleveland International Piano Competition. Being applauded by conductor Jahja Ling, they are, from left to right, Martín García García (24, Spain), First Prize, Lovre Marušić (28, Croatia) Second Prize, Yedam Kim (31, South Korea), Fourth Prize, and Byeol Kim (31, South Korea), Third Prize.
As Mixon First Prize winner, García García takes home a cash award of $75,000, as well as receiving a New York recital debut, Professional Management Services, and a recording by Steinway & Sons, New York. The Knowlton Second Prize comes with $25,000 in cash, the Third, and Fourth Prizes with awards of $15,000 and $10,000 respectively. Additionally, artist consulting services will be awarded to the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Prize winners, provided by Gold Sound Media.
García García won other honors as well as the gold — the Audience Prize, Chamber Prize, and Piano Duo Prize (with Rafael Skorka, who also won the Baroque Prize). Byeol Kim also claimed the Armchair Jury and Female Composer Prizes. Other special awards went to Ying Li (French and Mozart Prizes), Suah Ye (Russian Prize), Clayton Stephenson (American Prize), Stefano Andreatta (Beethoven Prize), Peter Klimo and Daria Parkhomenko (who shared the Contemporary Prize), and Arsenii Mun (Chopin Prize).
Photo by Roger Mastroianni.
Why put international piano competition finalists through a chamber music test between their solo and concerto rounds? Because there’s no better indicator of musicianship than one’s ability to function in a team. And since pianists tend to spend long hours all by themselves in practice rooms, collaborating in chamber music with other musicians is a healthy, socializing activity that can produce wonderful results. (Photo: Yaron Kohlberg welcomes the audience on August 3.)
Following the conclusion of the Semifinal rounds on Sunday afternoon, August 1, Piano Cleveland announced that Byeol Kim (South Korea), Yedam Kim (South Korea), Lovre Marušić (Croatia), and Martín García García (Spain) would advance to the Finals of the 2021 Cleveland International Piano Competition.
Following the conclusion of the Semifinal rounds on Sunday afternoon, August 1, Piano Cleveland announced that Byeol Kim (South Korea), Yedam Kim (South Korea), Lovre Marušić (Croatia), and Martín García García (Spain) will advance to the Finals of the 2021 Cleveland International Piano Competition.
Following the fourth session of the Semifinal Round at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Sunday afternoon, the jury named the four finalists in the 2021 Cleveland International Piano Competition. They will play chamber music with the Escher String Quartet on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Art Museum and concertos with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra on Friday and Saturday at Severance Hall according to the following schedule:
The playlists of the last two contestants in the Semifinal Round of the Cleveland International Piano Competition on Sunday afternoon at the Cleveland Museum of Art represented two markedly different approaches to programming.
Two splendid solo performances distinguished the third session of the Semifinal Round of the Cleveland International Piano Competition on Saturday afternoon in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art, but the truly amazing feature of the afternoon was its finale.
Given relatively spacious blank canvases to work with, Friday evening’s pianists took different approaches to curating and performing their 40-minute solo programs in the Second Session of the Semifinal Round in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art.
On Thursday evening in Gartner Auditorium of the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland International Piano Competition entered a new phase. In the first of four Semifinal rounds, two live pianists gave 40-minute performances for a live audience — a welcome change from the pandemic-dictated videos that took eight pianists virtually through the first two rounds and bought them tickets to Cleveland.
Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner (24, United States) kicked off the final session of Round 2 with a mesmerizing performance of Beethoven’s Sonata in c, Op. 111. Throughout the daunting work, Sanchez-Werner produced an unblemished sound that highlighted the work’s many dynamic contrasts and sudden shifts in mood. The opening theme of the second movement was beautiful. Moving seamlessly from one variation to the next, his playing was both intimate and full-bodied.