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by Daniel Hathaway with Daniel Hautzinger & Mike Telin
The ten young pianists who advanced to the Concerto Round in the Oberlin Cooper Piano Competition on Tuesday ranged in age from 13-18 and hailed from five countries. The contestants played complete concertos in Warner Concert Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory with a second pianist providing the orchestral accompaniment. The performances gave a taste of what the audience can expect on Friday evening at Severance Hall when three finalists perform with Jahja Ling and The Cleveland Orchestra.
The repertory included concertos by Beethoven (Nos. 2 and 5), Rachmaninoff (Nos. 2 and 3), Chopin (Nos. 1 and 2), Prokofiev (No. 3) and Tchaikovsky (No. 2). The most popular work — and the only piece the judges and audience heard more than once — was Chopin’s first concerto, which received three performances. Read the rest of this entry »
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).
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