VIII International Competition for Young Pianists 'A Step Towards Mastery'
06.07.2011
VIII International Competition for Young Pianists 'A Step towards Mastery' was held in St. Petersburg (Russia) 2- 9 June 2011. The founders of the competition are the Committee of Culture of the Government of St.Petersburg, Administration of the Frunzensky District of St.Petersburg, School of Arts for Children №4 St.Petersburg. The competition organising committee received over 150 applications. For participation in competition 76 young pianists from 15 countries of the world have been selected (Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, Israel, Canada, China, Vietnam, Japan, Uzbekistan). Under the regulations the competition has three rounds and all participants are divided into three age groups. The third round is a performance of the first part of a piano concerto accompanied by an orchestra. The first two rounds were held in the concert hall of School of Arts for Children №4, the third round and a concert of winners – in the Big and Small halls of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society named after D.D.Shostakovich. The second and third rounds were broadcast on the internet.
The performances of the young pianists were estimated by an authoritative international jury :
Ekaterina Murina (Russia) - chairman of jury
Maria Teresa Vejborny (Austria)
Maho Kaneko (Germany)
Julius Andrejevas (Lithuania)
Lucjusz Pinkosz (Poland)
Jean-Bernard Pommier (France)
Prize winners:
Category A
1st prize: Chen Huehong (China)
3rd prize: Kurilko Ekaterina (Ukraine)
3rd prize: Nikolin Galina (Serbia)
Category B
2nd prize: Kutuzov Alexander (Russia) - EMCY Prize
3rd prize: Nehring Simon (Poland)
Diplomas: Tanin Sergey (Russia) and Kashpurin Alexander (Russia)
Category C
2nd prize: Denisenko Andrey (Russia)
2nd prize: Lin Kuan-Ting (China)
St. Petersburg Orchestra of the State Hermitage under the baton of Anatoly Rybalko accompanied the finalists.
The organizing committee of the competition, the participants and music lovers were glad to meet the delegates of EMCY Conference for International Youth Music Competitions, that was being held in Saint-Petersburg during the competition 'A Step Towards Mastery'.
