by Mike Telin
Not only did James (Zijian) Wei win First Prize at the 2024 Cleveland International Piano Competition, he also won four special prizes, one of which was the ChamberFest Cleveland Prize. That prize was awarded for the first time during the 2024 CIPC and was the result of a new partnership between Piano Cleveland and ChamberFest Cleveland.
How did that partnership come about? “Yaron Kohlberg is one of my old friends from Israel, and ChamberFest has been wanting to collaborate with the Piano Competition for a long time,” pianist and ChamberFest co-artistic director Roman Rabinovich said during a Zoom conversation.
“We’re always exploring opportunities to bring our winners back to Cleveland and create partnerships with local organizations,” Piano Cleveland artistic director Yaron Kohlberg said by phone, “and ChamberFest is a natural fit.” [Read more…]