Without prior information, these announcements from a piano competition last weekend were, to put it mildly, unusual: “The Richard Rodzinski first-prize winner is Thomas Yu, 38 (Canada), a periodontist who lives in Calgary, Alberta,” and “The second-prize winner is Michael Slavin, 65 (United States), a retired ophthalmologist from Manhasset, New York.”
Piano contest winners are not identified by profession because usually they are all ... pianists. Not so in this case, because the Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition excludes professionals and embraces only pianists whose quest for excellence is driven exclusively by their dedication to the instrument and their passion for the music.
The weeklong contest took place in Fort Worth, Texas, in the same venues where the famous professional international festival is scheduled May 25 – June 10, 2017.
Sixty-eight amateurs were accepted for the preliminary round last week. Thirty went on to quarterfinals, and the field narrowed to 12 semifinalists and six finalists. Each finalist performed a movement from a piano concerto, accompanied by musicians of the Fort Worth Symphony.
Dr. Yu won not only the top prize ($2,000 and tickets, official guest status for the 2017 international competition), but also the Audience and Press Awards (the latter including a “cowboy hat provided by Overland Sheepskin Co.”). He was excluded from other rewards by the rules that prevent competitors who received a first, second, third, or jury discretionary awards from more than one of the special prizes.
Balancing career and passion, Yu has maintained a private dental practice while taking top honors at numerous contests, including the Paris International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs and Canada’s CBC Piano Hero. He played Durand’s Prelude No. 1 and Beethoven’s Sonata No. 32 in C Minor, Op. 111 in the semifinal round, and the third movement from Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 5 in F Major, Op. 103 (“Egyptian”).
Behind runner-up Dr. Slavin, third prize went to Xavier Aymonod, 40 (France), a strategy consultant from Paris. Some of the special awards were:
- Jury Discretionary Awards — Deirbhile Brennan, 46, accountant (Ireland) and Lana Marina, 47, stay-at-home mother (US)
- Creative Programming Award — Gregory Knight, 53, software engineer (US)
- Baroque Work Performance — Clark Vann Griffith, 52, retired database programmer (US)
- Classical Work Performance — Ken Iisaka, 47, software engineer (Japan/Canada)
- Romantic Work Performance — Matthias Fischer, 42, physician (Germany)
- Post-Romantic Work Performance — Jasmin Tiodang, 44, stay-at-home mother (Indonesia)
- Jury Discretionary Awards — Deirbhile Brennan, 46, accountant (Ireland) and Lana C. Marina, 47, stay-at-hme mother (US)