On Monday, Oct. 22, at 12:59 a.m. in Calgary, Stephen McHolm, president and artistic director of the Honens International Piano Competition, announced the names of the five pianists who will advance to the competition's final round.
The finalists are:
Lorenzo Cossi, 30, Italy.
Pavel Kolesnikov, 23, Russia.
Maria Mazo, 30, Russia.
Jong-Hai Park, 22, South Korea.
Eric Zuber, 27, United States.
Each finalist will perform a concerto with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Roberto Minczuk on Oct. 25 or 26. The performances will take place at Jack Singer Concert Hall at Calgary's Epcor Centre.
At stake is the $100,000 Enbridge cash prize and a comprehensive artistic and career development program valued at a half million dollars, the largest award in the world of international music competitions.
CBC Music will host a live video stream of the finals, along with a live blog. Everyone is encouraged to view and comment on the performances, and to join the conversation online using the hashtag #honens2012.
Ten semifinalists each performed a 60-minute solo recital and a 65- to 70-minute chamber music performance, and were evaluated by an international jury comprised of Adrian Brendel, Michael Haefliger, Julian Kuerti, Aleksandar Madžar, Jon Kimura Parker, HaeSun Paik and Michael Spring.
The five finalists selected by the jury have the potential to be named Honens laureate and "complete artist."
Here are the semifinal solo recitals of each of the five finalists. They are large files and may take a few seconds to upload:
Lorenzo Cossi, 30, Italy:
Pavel Kolesnikov, 23, Russia:
Maria Mazo, 30, Russia:
Jong-Hai Park, 22, South Korea:
Eric Zuber, 27, United States:
Who are you cheering for? Let us know in the comments below or write to classical@cbc.ca.
Related:
Photo gallery: behind the scenes at Honens
Music-loving dog, Maestro, sings along with Honens semifinalist
Honens Piano Competition expands with live webcast, $100K prize
posted by
Catherine McClelland
on Oct 22, 2012