What would you do with $10,000?

Whoever wins Oberlin’s 13th annual International Piano Competition in the Conservatory’s Warner Concert Hall on Saturday, July 28, will have the privilege of entertaining that question, because this year the first prize award is $10,000 cash, in addition to orchestral engagements in Beijing and Hong Kong, China. According to a representative of the Alink-Argerich Foundation, an independent, global information and service center for musicians and competitions, Oberlin’s contest offers the largest first-prize award for an international youth piano competition.

The final round, which is free and open to the public, begins at 8 p.m. and will be broadcast live on 104.9 FM WCLV, Cleveland’s classical music radio station. Robert Conrad, co-founder and president of WCLV, returns as master of ceremonies; broadcaster Jacqueline Gerber, of WCLV’s morning show First Program, is the on-air host. Audience members attending the finals round concert are invited to vote for their favorite performer; the pianist garnering the most votes will receive a $100 prize. Finalists will also be competing for prizes ranging from the first through sixth award levels.

The competition is for pianists between the ages of 13 and 18 who were chosen following a preliminary taped audition round. This year’s competition includes participants from Canada, China, Cyprus, Korea, Taiwan, and the United States. New to the competition this year is a concerto round for the competition finalists, the results of which will be weighted toward the competition’s final outcome.

Of the pianists who travel to Oberlin to compete, 12 to 16 will be selected from a first performance round and will advance to the second live round of competition. Up to six pianists remaining after the second live round will perform in the concerto round and the competition finals.

Final round judges for the competition are Oberlin Professors of Piano Sanford Margolis and Monique Duphil, who will be joined by festival guest artists Malcolm Bilson, Visiting Professor of Historical Keyboards at the Eastman School of Music; Christopher Elton, Head of Keyboard at the Royal Academy of Music, London; Jerome Lowenthal, faculty member at the Juilliard School; and David Starobin, Founder and Director of Bridge Records and faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music.

Included among the judges for the concerto round is Tao Fan, principal conductor of China’s National Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra.

Warner Concert Hall, located at 77 West College Street, at the corner of Professor and West College streets, is wheelchair-accessible, and is also the site of free, public recitals associated with the festival.

The finals round of the competition is the showcase event of a weeklong piano festival that includes private lessons, master classes, recitals, and lectures by renowned guest artists and Oberlin faculty members, providing participants with intensive and in-depth opportunities to expand their knowledge of music history, theory, and pedagogy, as well as the vital connection of those three elements to on-stage performance. For a schedule of events for the competition and festival, click here.

Directed by Oberlin Professor of Piano Robert Shannon, the festival is held from Sunday, July 21, through Sunday, July 29, 2007, at the Conservatory. More information about the competition and festival is available by calling Anna Hoffmann at 440-775-8044.