Photo by John Seyfried

Pianist Spencer Myer, a 2000 graduate of the Conservatory, is having a very good summer in his home state.

The 26-year-old musician, who studied at Oberlin with Professor of Piano Peter Takács and hails from North Ridgeville, was the only representative of the United States in the final round of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, held from July 27 through August 7. His music-making throughout the competition, which culminated in a performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4, Op. 58 with the Cleveland Orchestra, under the baton of Jahja Ling in Severance Hall, earned him the fourth place prize. He also won two special prizes: the Cairns Family American Prize for his semi-final round performance of Samuel Barber's Sonata in E-flat Minor, Op. 26, and the Contemporary Prize for his round one performance of the Piano Sonata by the Australian composer Carl Vine.

Donald Rosenberg, classical music critic for the Plain Dealer, praised Myer's performances throughout the competition. Of his performance with the Cleveland Orchestra, Rosenberg wrote: "Spencer Myer … won the type of standing ovations usually reserved for renowned keyboard heroes .… [he] was the epitome of assurance and order. He phrased the serene opening phrase with utmost calm and proceeded to set forth the first movement's luminous lines as if they were the most precious pearls. Everything was fluent, noble, and clear, both in textural and structural terms. The second movement's alternating statements between pianist and orchestra found Myer using his subtlest powers to persuade the opposing forces to retreat. The finale had nimble grace and a buttery touch that drew the listener deeply into Beethoven's gleeful arguments. Ling and the orchestra were collaborators par excellence."

Cleveland is not the only Ohio city to bestow benevolent good fortune on Myer; Cincinnati has also been kind. In July Myer won the silver medal and $5,000 at the 2005 World Piano Competition at the Aronoff Center for the Arts.

"It's been such a pleasure to watch Spencer's growth in the last few years," says Takács. "As a student he was a natural pianist and musician, but to these qualities he has added a ravishing palette of colors, stylistic sophistication, and the indefinable earmarks of a true musical personality.  I believe he has the all the tools needed to reach the peak of his chosen profession."

Myer received his doctor of musical arts degree at Stony Brook University in New York in June and a master of music degree at the Juilliard School. He will be the only contestant representing the United States in the 2005 Busoni International Piano Competition to be held in Bolzano, Italy, from August 24 through September 3. He is also one of five finalists in the American Pianists Association's 2006 Classical Fellowship Awards Competition, which takes place in various Indianapolis venues in late 2005 and early 2006.

Myer is not the only recent Conservatory graduate to achieve competition success this summer. Canadian Scott Meek, who earned Oberlin degrees in piano performance and East Asian studies in May, joined Myer on the winners' platform in Cincinnati, taking the bronze medal and $3,000 in last month's World Piano Competition. He was a piano student of Associate Professor of Piano Alvin Chow and is from Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Another student of Peter Takács, Mudi Han, won first prize and $2,500 in the Beethoven Club's 11th Biennial International Beethoven Piano Sonata Competition, held in May at the University of Memphis in Tennessee. At 22, Han was the youngest of the seven finalists in the competition. Born in Wuhan, China, he will be a senior at Oberlin this fall. Ivan Seng, a 1999 graduate of Oberlin, placed fourth in this competition.

Anastasia Dedik, an artist diploma student of Professor of Piano Sedmara Rutstein, won first prize in the advanced category at the Sixth Annual International Russian Music Piano Competition in San Jose, California, in May. Jingwen Tu, a May graduate of the Conservatory and another Rutstein student, won second prize in the college piano division at the Lima Orchestra Young Artists' Competition, held at Ohio State University's Lima campus in April.         

The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, founded in 1865 and situated within the intellectual vitality of Oberlin College since 1867, is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States. Renowned internationally as a professional music school of the highest caliber and pronounced a "national treasure" by the Washington Post, Oberlin's alumni have gone on to achieve illustrious careers in all aspects of the serious music world. Its students and alumni have won top prizes in numerous international piano competitions, including the Van Cliburn, the Fryderyk Chopin, the Queen Elisabeth, the Arthur Rubinstein, the Walter W. Naumberg, the Unisa International Piano Competition (South Africa), the American Pianists Association Classical Fellowship competition, the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition, and the Busoni Competition. The Conservatory's collection of 1,700 period and modern musical instruments includes 199 Steinway grand pianos. Oberlin, an All-Steinway School, is Steinway & Sons' oldest continuous client; their relationship dates back more than 125 years.