You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Leonardo Colafelice’ tag.
by Daniel Hathaway
L-R: Xiaoyu Liu, Leonardo Colafelice, and Micah McLaurin. Photo: Roger Mastroianni.
The prize money for the three top winners in the Oberlin Cooper Competition is impressive, but the opportunity for teenaged pianists to play full concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra has to be, as the credit card commercial put it, priceless. They had that opportunity during the Final Round of the competition on Friday evening, July 27, in Severance Hall, in front of a live audience, radio and Internet listeners over WCLV and a panel of distinguished judges.
During a grueling week’s worth of semifinal, concerto and recital rounds at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the original draw of competitors had been gradually winnowed down from thirty-three to sixteen, then to ten, to six and to three. Earlier in the week, it seemed statistically possible that the final round might include three performances of Rachmaninov’s second concerto, but that didn’t happen. The final three, 17-year-old Micah McLaurin (right) from Charleston, S.C., 15-year-old Xiaoyu Liu (left) from Montréal, and 16-year-old Leonardo Colafelice (center) from Bari, Italy, would play one Chopin and two different Rachmaninov’s for the panel of judges to determine the ranking of their prizes.
Read the rest of this entry »
Oberlin, OH — Thursday, July 26
L-R: Xiaoyu Liu, Leonardo Colafelice, and Micah McLaurin. Photo: Roger Mastroianni
Following the Recital Round on Wednesday evening in Warner Concert Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the judges for the Cooper International Piano Competition announced the names of the three contestants who will compete on Friday evening in Severance Hall with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra. They are, in performance order:
Xiaoyu Liu, 15, Montréal, Québec, Canada — Rachmaninov: Concerto No. 2
Micah McLaurin, 17, Charleston, SC — Chopin: Concerto No. 2
Leonardo Colafelice, 16, Altamura, Bari, Italy — Rachmaninov: Concerto No. 3
The 8 pm performance will be broadcast live over WCLV, 104.9 FM. Tickets are available from the Severance Hall box office, 216.231.11111 or can be ordered online. A free performance at 4pm in Reinberger Chamber Music Hall will feature outstanding performances from the Semifinals Round.
Wednesday evening’s emcee, WCLV president Robert Conrad, also announced winners of four prizes:
The audience favorite award went to Leonardo Colafelice.
The sixth-place winner was Sarina Zhang, 16, from San Diego, CA
Tieing for the fourth-place prize were Sahun Hong, 18, of Fort Worth, TX, and Annie Zhou, 14, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Oberlin, OH — Tuesday, July 24
Following the Concerto Round on Tuesday evening, the judges for the Cooper International Piano Competition announced the names of the six contestants who will compete on Wednesday evening in the Recital Round. Each will play a 20-minute recital. The 7 pm performance will be broadcast live over WCLV, 104.9 FM. The concert is free and open to the public.
The six contestants are listed in performing order:
Sarina Zhang, 16, San Diego, CA
Sahun Hong, 18, Fort Worth, TX
Xiaoyu Liu, 15, Montréal, Québec, Canada
Micah McLaurin, 17, Charleston, SC
Annie Zhou, 14, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Leonardo Colafelice, 16, Altamura, Bari, Italy
Click here to download the program book with biographies. (pdf file, 5mb).
Oberlin, OH — Tuesday, July 24
by Daniel Hathaway
There was a lot of impressive teen-aged piano prowess on display this afternoon in Warner Concert Hall as the Oberlin Cooper International Piano Competition went into the first of two concerto rounds and five of the ten competitors left in the draw played whole concertos by Beethoven, Rachmaninov and Schumann with a second piano filling in for the orchestra. (The three who are left at the end will get to play concertos for real with The Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Hall on Friday evening).
15-year old Rachel Breen from Oakland, CA set the bar high with an assured performance of Beethoven’s fourth concerto that adroitly pointed up both its exquisite seriousness and its sudden bursts of playfulness. She knew the piece thoroughly and communicated with her “orchestra” (pianist Yu Sakamoto) as though they were playing chamber music together (at the beginning of the second movement, hands in lap, she mimed playing along with the orchestra). Ms. Breen dispatched sequences of runs with sensitivity and clarity and made lovely transitions between sections. Read the rest of this entry »
Oberlin, OH — Monday, July 23
The following ten pianists will compete in this order in Tuesday’s Concerto Round. ClevelandClassical will report from Warner Concert Hall at Oberlin after each of the two sessions, which will begin at 1:30 pm and 7:30 pm.
Rachel Breen, 15, Oakland, CA – Beethoven 4
Sae Yoon Chon, 16, Seoul, South Korea – Beethoven 5
Leonardo Colafelice, 16, Altamura, Bari, Italy – Rachmaninov 3
Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner, 15, New York, NY – Rachmaninov 2
Phoebe Pan, 14, Ivine, CA – Schumann
Micah McLaurin, 17, Charleston, SC – Chopin 2
Xiaoyu Liu, 15, Montréal, Québec, Canda – Rachmaninov 2
Annie Zhou, 14, Toronto, Ontario, Canada – Chopin 2
Sarina Zhang, 16, San Diego, CA – Rachmaninov 2
Sahun Hong, 18, Ft. Worth, TX – Rachmaninov 2
Click here to download the program book with biographies. (pdf file, 5mb).
Oberlin, OH — Monday, July 23
The following sixteen pianists will compete today in this order for ten positions in Tuesday’s Concerto Round. ClevelandClassical will report from Oberlin after each of the two Tuesday sessions, which will begin at 1:30 pm and 7:30 pm.
Rachel Breen, 15, Oakland, CA
Amiran Zenaishvili, 16, Moscow, Russian Federation
Sae Yoon Chon, 16, Seoul, South Korea
Jun Hwi Cho, 16, Seoul, South Korea
Leonardo Colafelice, 16, Altamura, Bari, Italy
Dong Won Lee, 18, Redmond, WA
Yishan Hong, 17, Beijing, China
Llewellyn Sanchez-Werner, 15, New York, NY
Phoebe Pan, 14, Ivine, CA
Micah McLaurin, 17, Charleston, SC
Xiaoyu Liu, 15, Montréal, Québec, Canda
Hyung-Do Kim, 16, Palisades Park, NJ
Annie Zhou, 14, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Christopher Son Richardson, 14, Danville, CA
Sarina Zhang, 16, San Diego, CA
Sahun Hong, 18, Ft. Worth, TX
Click here to download the program book with biographies. (pdf file, 5mb).
