by Mike Telin & Daniel Hathaway

“I’m so happy. It’s very nice that all the work has been recognized and appreciated.” — Giuseppe Guarrera (32, Italy), fourth prize.

“It’s amazing. Honestly, when I came to the competition I had zero expectations for what was going to happen.” — Maxim Lando (21, USA), third prize.

“It feels really great.” — Evren Ozel (25, USA), second prize.

“It’s a dream come true.” — James (Zijian) Wei (25, China), first prize.

On Sunday afternoon following the concerto round with The Cleveland Orchestra on Friday and Saturday, we had the opportunity to meet with the four finalists in the atrium of the Cleveland Museum of Art to get their impressions about the innovations in this year’s Cleveland International Piano Competition, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and how it felt to be a prizewinner.

In an interview with this publication, Piano Cleveland president Yaron Kohlberg said that “A lot has changed in the classical music world during the past 50 years,” and that this year’s competition is all about creating more and better ways for it to serve the contestants, and the audience. [Read more…]