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Monday, Jun. 01, 2009
Blind pianist among six Cliburn finalists
Youngest competitor, blind pianist among the six advancing to the Cliburn finals.
By TIM MADIGAN and ANDREW MARTON
dfw.com
Does it bother you that Americans seem to be disappearing from the classical music scene?
FORT WORTH — The lives of six young pianists were changed profoundly at Bass Hall on Sunday night, if not forever. After five days of recitals and chamber performances, the six musicians from around the world were named finalists of the 13th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.
The finalists include the Cliburn’s youngest competitor, Haochen Zhang from China, who turns 19 this week, and Nobuyuki Tsujii from Japan, a blind musician who in the first two rounds wowed Bass Hall audiences with long recitals and his chamber music performance with the Takacs Quartet.
Other finalists include Evgeni Bozhanov of Bulgaria; Di Wu of China; Italian Mariangela Vacatello, and Korean Yeol Eum Son. Beginning Wednesday, the six will perform another recital and two concertos with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, led by renowned director by James Conlon. The winners will be announced Sunday night.
The finalists, who were announced minutes after midnight, were both ecstatic, but immediately aware of the challenges that lay ahead.
“I have to practice,” said Wu, a 24-year-old who has been studying in the United States for eight years. “This is a process. The results were last night. That’s when the music was made. This is the aftermath. I had no control over what happened.”
Bozhanov, an elegant musician whose playing drew raves from members of the Takacs Quartet, was the first to hear his name announced by jury chairman John Giordano. Bozhanov said he looks forward to the finals -- and to working with Conlon and the orchestra.
"I want to see the director," he says. "I will enjoy this; it will be great."
Tsujii was so excited when his name was called, he jumped up and tried to negotiate the stairs to the stage, stepping on the feet of his manager, who was trying to lead him.
“I didn’t think I could make it so I was surprised," Tsujii said as his mother telephoned the news to her husband and her son’s main piano teacher in Tokyo. "I’m so excited."
Each of the top three pianists will receive $20,000. The three remaining finalists will go home with $10,000, which is far less than some other American competitions. Competitions in Cleveland and Los Angeles each offer a $50,000 first prize. (Each of the Cliburn semifinalists receives $5,000.)
But at the Cliburn, the prize money is often considered secondary. What makes the Fort Worth competition one of the world’s most prestigious is what happens in the years after the quadrennial event.
To its finalists, the Cliburn offers three years of commission-free professional management and roughly 300 engagements shared by the finalists across the United States.
In addition, the Cliburn gold medalist, will perform about 50 engagements around the world and will be managed overseas by a European talent agency.
The gold was shared in 2001 by Olga Kern and Stanislav Ioudenitch.
"I have friends who have been finalists in this and other competitions, and they have told me that more concerts immediately follow once you are a finalist, especially in the U.S., so I would look so forward to that very much," said Vacatello, who was named a finalist.
Pianists from Asia and Europe who advance also greatly heighten their profiles among artistic organizations and music presenters in the U.S.United States.
"I just don’t have too many ways to play in the states," Vacatello said. "I’ve played a couple of times in New York already, but if I were in the Cliburn finals, I would be so very interested in playing more. . .. .. . I would really like the Cliburn to represent me in the U.S. because I’ve heard that they are especially supportive of young players."
With the news early Monday, six other pianists from the semifinals were disappointed, which tempered the joy of those who survived to the next round.
Among them was Zhang, still 18, who kept a heavy lid on his emotions, as he has during the entire competition.
"I was obviously excited," said the Chinese pianist, who turns 19 on Wednesday. "At the same time I sympathize with the others (who didn’t make it) -- they were fantastic. The Cliburn is a very competitive event."
Zhang’s mother, visiting from Shanghai, was "too nervous to be here," said Vickie Ray, the host parent of the competition’s youngest pianist. "But she’s watching from her hotel room."
The final six
Evgeni Bozhanov, Bulgaria, 25
Yeol Eum Son, Korea, 23
Nobuyuki Tsujii, Japan, 20
Mariangela Vacatello, Italy, 27
Di Wu, China, 24
Haochen Zhang, China, 18
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