by Daniel Hathaway
Cleveland, March 5, 2015 — The Cleveland International Piano Competition has released the names of twenty-nine pianists, ages 12-18, who will receive invitations to journey to Cleveland in May, 2015 to participate in the CIPC Young Artists Competition and Institute.
Launched in 2003 as a one-day competition for Ohio piano students, the Young Artists Competition has been reorganized this year to follow the multi-round format of its parent competition, which will be held next in the summer of 2016.
The ten-day Young Artists event will run from May 12-21. Opening rounds will be held in Gamble Auditorium at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music in Berea. The final round with the Canton Symphony Orchestra, Gerhardt Zimmermann, conducting, will take place in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art on May 21.
Contestants in both junior and senior divisions will be adjudicated by a seven-person jury including Paul Schenly (USA), Kyung Sook Lee (South Korea), Dorian Leljak (Serbia/Croatia), Marina Lomazov (Ukraine/USA), Alexander Schimpf (Germany), Sean Schulze (USA/South Africa), and Lei Weng (China).
Participants who do not advance to later rounds will be offered master classes with jury members and other conservatory teachers. The Young Artists Competition will also feature evening solo recitals by four internationally renowned guest pianists, including Vassily Primakov (May 12), Mariam Batsashvili (May 16), Sean Chen (May 17), and Alexander Schimpf (May 20).
A four-person screening jury (CIPC president and CEO Pierre van der Westhuizen, CIPC artistic director and CIM piano professor Paul Schenly, CIM piano department head Kathryn Brown, and Bowling Green State University piano professor Thomas Rosenkranz) winnowed the original field of more than 160 applicants from six continents down to the following twenty-nine names. “We saw an amazing level of skill and performance capability within the field of applicants,” van der Westhuizen said. “It made for some very difficult choices, but we will have an outstanding competition in May.”
Junior Division
Xuehong Chen, 15 (China)
Tom Borrow, 14 (Israel)
Avery Gagliano, 13 (USA)
Nina Yifang Hu, 14 (USA)
Bon-Hwi Kim, 13 (South Korea)
Maxim Lando, 12 (USA)
Tommy Jing Yu Leo, 14 (Singapore)
Xiaoxuan Li, 13 (China)
Leonid Nediak, 11 (12 at start of Competition, Canada)
Jae Hong Park, 15 (South Korea)
Junhao Wang, 13 (USA)
Natasha Wu, 14 (USA)
Elliot Wuu, 15 (USA)
William Yang, 13 (USA)
Yerin Yang, 11 (12 at start of Competition, South Korea)
Senior Division
Giorgio Trione Bartoli, 18 (Italy)
Kyubin Chung, 17 (South Korea)
Jeong Min Kim, 17 (South Korea)
Nima Mirkhoshhal, 17 (Germany)
Evelyn Mo, 16 (USA)
Evren Ozel, 15 (16 at start of Competition, USA)
Chaeyoung Park, 17 (South Korea)
Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner, 18 (USA)
Angeni Wang, 15 (16 at start of Competition, Canada)
Victoria Wong, 17 (Canada)
Jiacheng Xiong, 18 (China)
Yuanfan Yang, 18 (United Kingdom)
Adria Ye, 17 (USA) – withdrew 4/9/2015
Muzi Zhao, 16 (China)
All competition rounds, guest artist recitals, and masterclasses are open to the public. Tickets and information are available here.
Published on ClevelandClassical.com March 5, 2015.
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