 |
||
|
|
|
By Vivien Schweitzer
10 Jul 2006
Washington state native Stephen Beus won the gold medal and a $30,000 prize at the 30th Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation competition in Salt Lake City. He competed against 39 international pianists aged 19-32 and was the only American in the June 30 finals.
The Deseret Morning News reports that Beus, who performed Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Utah Symphony at Abravanel Hall, also won the 1996 Junior Bachauer competition.
Second place and $15,000 was awarded to Takashi Yamamoto of Japan, for her performance of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. Ukraine's Vadim Kholodenko won third place, performing Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. He received $10,000. Fourth place and $8,000 went to Hinrich Alpers of Germany, who played Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3, according to the paper.
The competition is judged differently than most international events; instead of being eliminated after just 20 minutes of performance, competitors play three rounds for a total of 90 minutes.
Gina Bachauer was a Greek pianist who died in 1976; the competition, held every four years, was established the same year. She performed frequently with the Utah Symphony Orchestra and was a friend of Maurice Abravanel, its longtime music director.
Send questions and comments to the Webmaster
Copyright © 2010 Playbill, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
