Antonii Baryshevskyi from Ukraine won the Gold Award, Jiusi Zhang from China won the Silver Award, and Evangeliya Delizonas-Khukhua from Russia won the Bronze Award. Jiusi Zhang also won the Best Rendition Award of the Commissioned Composition.
Dozens of contestants from around the world competed at the Merkin Concert Hall of the Kaufman Music Center in New York from Oct. 29 to Nov. 1. A Future Stars Concert was held before the award ceremony on Nov. 2. Pianists appearing at the concert included this year’s six competition finalists, as well as the 2014 Competition Gold Award winner Timur Mustakimov, along with professor Mikhail Voskresensky and Russian concert pianist Vassily Primakov.
This year, the commissioned piece “The Sacred Journey” was arranged by Qin Yuan, a composer and piano accompanist with Shen Yun. Qin is a prolific composer with notable expertise in delivering the melodies and rhythms of ancient Chinese music through the language of classical music as it was established in the West.
Pianists who made it to the semifinals were required to perform this specially commissioned composition. A “Best Rendition Award of the Commissioned Composition” was rewarded for the competition.
Some contestants shared final words with NTD about their experiences in this competition.
“I received a marvelous experience playing here in this hall,“ said Gold Award winner Baryshevskyi, who started playing piano at the age of 7, and is a soloist at the National Philharmonic of Ukraine. ”I enjoyed very much this piano and it’s always a great pleasure for us pianists to play on a good piano that helps us to produce everything that we wanted.”
Trinity Goff from the United States is currently studying with Jean-David Coen of Willamette University in Oregon. She is one of the three finalists who won the Outstanding Performance Award. “It’s really fun to be around other musicians who are great, to be in the city, to perform in this great venue, and to have these opportunities,“ she said. ”I think it’s been very inspirational and will carry over into the rest of my life.”
Audience members expressed their appreciation for the competition and its mission.
“Classical music is some the most brilliant music that has been created in this world. And it would be very lost to the world if we did not continue to appreciate and judge it, so to speak,” one audience member said.
Full List of Winners
Gold Award: Antonii Baryshevskyi from UkraineAruth Masrangsan from Thailand Yung-Yi Chen from Taiwan Trinity Goff from the United States
Aron Alakmeh from Switzerland Boris Krivoshein from Russia Carolina Danise from Italy Ilya Ramlav from Russia Maria Narodytska from Ukraine Tiago Rosario from Portugal Xizhu Liang from China
