The first International Piano-e-Competition has reached its successful conclusion in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN. Mei-Ting Sun, a 21-year-old artist from the United States, prevailed in a field of 40 contestants from around the world to win a First Prize of $25,000, a Yamaha Disklavier® DC3A Pro grand piano and more.

Thanks to the reproducing technology of the Disklavier, the Piano-e-Competition was unlike any competition that had gone before: one of the seven judges, acclaimed pianist Yefim Bronfman, was on another continent when it took place. During the finals, artists performed on the Disklavier in Minnesota. The performances were captured digitally as computer data and sent via the Internet to Bronfman's identical Disklavier in Hamamatsu, Japan where the note for note performances were recreated and synchronized with high quality video of the performances.

 

Screening auditions began on June 4 - 6 and contestants performed preliminary rounds from June 7 - 11. On June 13 and 14 at Sundin Hall at Hamline University, finalists performed Schubert Sonatas and Quintets by Shostakovich, Brahms, and Dvorak. Concerto performances, held on Saturday, June 15 and Sunday, June 16 at Orchestra Hall, were accompanied by the Winnepeg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mark Russell Smith.

Six pianists made it to the final rounds. Five of them, including Sun, gave their final performances on Monday, June 17th: Victoria Korchinskaya-Kogan of Canada received second prize, Edisher Savitski of Georgia fourth prize, Tatiana Kolessova of Russia fifth prize, and Wen-Yin Chan of Taiwan sixth prize (Third prize was not awarded by the jury). In addition to being of high caliber, all those who performed the final night also showed some quantity of personality as well when each was briefly interviewed.

In addition to the cash award and the Disklavier grand piano, Sun will receive a Spring 2005 debut recital in Alice Tully Hall at New York's Lincoln Center and a CD release on Ten Thousand Lakes label. The other top finishers received cash prizes as well, and Sun also won an additional $1,500 for the competition's best performance of a Schubert Sonata.

The evolution of the Internet, along with advanced piano technology pioneered by Yamaha, made the International Piano-e-Competition possible. Though the Piano-e-Competition is over, the general public may still "tune in" to the finalists' performances at www.mpr.org.

While Bronfman served as the competition's remote "e-judge" from Japan, onsite judges Fou T'Song, Ralf Gothoni, Sergio Perticaroli, Abbey Simon, Sontraud Speidel, Dubravka Tomsic, and Dmitri Bashkirov rounded out the internationally renowned jury.

"The vision of the International Piano-e-Competition is to use the very latest in technology to bring music to as wide an audience as possible," says competition founder, President and Artistic Director Alexander Braginsky and CEO Jeffrey Wirth.

The event, organized by Minneapolis based Musicians In Debut International (MIDI), was partnered by the Grand Hotel of Minneapolis, Hamline University, Minnesota Public Radio, Minnesota Monthly Magazine, The Star Tribune and Yamaha Corporation of America, with participation by Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, The Rosalyra Quartet, The Schubert Club, The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and the Music Director of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra Mark Russell Smith.