The Arizona State University School of Music has taken its Bosendorfer and Yamaha USASU International Piano Competition to an exciting new level in its sixth year.
For the first time, the competition’s three finalists will perform a concerto with the Phoenix Symphony in a concert conducted by music director Michael Christie at Symphony Hall to determine the winner.
In another first, each contestant’s performance will be streamed live at herbergerinstitute.asu.edu/pianocompetition/2013/.
The Musical Instrument Museum has invited the finalists to give a recital in the coming year at the MIM Music Theater.
And this year’s judges include the acclaimed Martha Argerich and Sergei Babayan, who won first prize in both the 2011 Tchaikovsky and Arthur Rubinstein competitions.
Dr. Baruch Meir, the ASU professor of piano who founded the competition and serves as its president and artistic director, says, “It’s really a very reputable jury. And we had more applicants than ever.”
A total of 198 pianists from 31 countries applied to compete in three categories broken down by age: 13-15, 16-18 and 19-32.
Twenty-eight applicants were chosen to compete in the 19-32 age group, with 14 contestants chosen to compete in the other two groups.
“They all send DVDs,” Meir says. “And we have a panel of four pianists who watch the DVDs and also look at their resumes for their achievements so far. I can tell you that among the pianists selected, a lot of them have won top prizes at the Cleveland International Piano Competition, the Arthur Rubinstein Competition, the Van Cliburn Competition, the Tchaikovsky Competition. They are people who are really on the top of the world for young pianists today.”
Those chosen to compete spent the week leading up to the Sunday, Jan. 13, finals competing for prizes, including more than $50,000 in cash awards, engagements with the Phoenix Symphony and recital performances in the United States, Austria and Germany.
Two contestants chosen to compete in that first round were based in Arizona, one a graduate of ASU, the other studying at University of Arizona. Those two are also competing for a $1,000 award for the best Arizona contestant.
Sejoon Park, a South Korean who moved to Washington, D.C., at 10 and is working toward his master’s at Juilliard, is competing for the first time in the Arizona competition.
“A lot of my friends have done it,” Park says shortly after competing in the first round. “I have to say it has a very good reputation. And this year, the judges include some very famous artists. It gives us a chance to present ourselves to people who might not usually get to see us. I think that’s what draws a lot of us to this competition.”
In the first round, contestants were asked to play 25 minutes.
“The only mandatory piece,” Meir says, “is an etude by either Chopin or Liszt. Anything else they play is their own choice. Some people play more contemporary music, more romantic music, whatever style they prefer. They are trying to show that they have a grasp of a variety of styles of writing, like Beethoven, Chopin and Rachmaninoff or even more contemporary than that.”
Asked how he felt the first round went, Park says, “I have to wait and see the results, but I tried my best. Competitions in general place very hard pressure on us because not only do we have to play well, but we really have to be perfect almost. Even though I was happy with myself, if I close the door and look at myself in the mirror, I would probably tell myself something that I could have done better today.”
Eight semifinalists, including Park, were chosen from the 19-32 age range. And from those eight, three were then selected to perform in this year’s Bosendorfer finals with the symphony.
Joining forces with the symphony has the piano competition one step closer to Meir’s original goal.
“I wanted really to expand the cultural and musical life here,” he says. “I’m originally from Israel, and growing up, I was inspired throughout my pianistic career by watching the Arthur Rubinstein Competition. I never skipped it. It’s something I always learned from. And the thing about this competition is that they’re very exciting events for the community. Everybody comes and they bring classical music to life. So as a professor here, I really wanted to do something that would have an impact on the students and on the community.”
