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OBERLIN ANNOUNCES THE WINNERS OF THE NINTH ANNUAL OBERLIN INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION
JULY 28, 2003--Rachel Kudo, a 16-year-old pianist from Northbrook, Illinois, and a student of Emilio del Rosario at the Music Institute of Chicago, is the winner of the Ninth Annual Oberlin International Piano Competition and Festival. The final round of the competition, for pianists 13 through 18 years old, was held Saturday, July 26, in Warner Concert Hall at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Kudo received $4,000 for her first-prize-winning performance of the first movement of Haydn’s Sonata, Chopin’s Etudes, Op. 10, Nos. 1-5, and his Ballade No. 4, Op. 52.
The second-prize award of $1,500 and the audience favorite award of $100 went to Kevin Kordi, also 16, from Northbrook, Illinois. He also is a student of del Rosario at the Music Institute of Chicago. Third prize and $1,000 went to Ye Jin Lee, 15, of South Korea. She performed the first movement of Beethoven’s Sonata, Op. 10, No. 3, the first and third movements of Mendelssohn’s Fantasie, Op. 28, Chopin’s Etude Op. 10, No. 4, and Albeniz’ "Evocación" and "El Puerto" from Iberia. (Competition winners' biographies are now available.)
The remaining two finalists, Sarah Oh, 18, of Seoul, Korea, and Kei Niedra, 13, of North Ridgeville, Ohio placed fourth and fifth, respectively.
The five finalists were each asked to perform 30 minutes of repertoire; they were told which pieces to play just moments before walking on stage. Technical difficulties precluded airing the concert live as scheduled on WCLV-FM and wclv.com; the station will air the recorded concert on Tuesday, July 29, at 9 p.m. Kendal at Oberlin is the program’s sponsor.
Guest judges for the finals round were Hans Boepple, chair of the music department at Santa Clara University; Ekaterina Murina, chief professor and chair of piano at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia; and broadcaster, writer, and teacher Robert Sherman, host of the McGraw-Hill Companies’ Young Artists Showcase on WQXR, the classical music radio station of The New York Times. Judges from the Oberlin Conservatory faculty were Associate Professor of Piano Alvin Chow, Professor of Piano Monique Duphil, and Professor of Piano Sanford Margolis.
The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, founded in 1865, is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States, and is renowned internationally for the intensive professional training opportunities it provides to aspiring professional musicians. The Oberlin Conservatory’s facilities include 199 Steinway pianos, 150 practice rooms, and a music library equal to that of any major university. Oberlin offers intensive professional training to aspiring musicians; its students and alumni have won prizes in numerous international piano competitions, including the Van Cliburn, the Fryderyk Chopin, the Queen Elisabeth, the Arthur Rubinstein, the Walter W. Naumburg, the University of Maryland, the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition, and the Concorsco Pianis-Otico Internazionale F. Busoni Competition.
Notable pianists who graduated from Oberlin include concert and recording artist and Rubenstein Competition winner Gregory Allen; Jeremy Denk, a National Public Radio Young Artist-in-Residence; international recording and concert artist and Peabody Conservatory of Music faculty member Marian Hahn; and the legendary Natalie Hinderas, one of the first African American women to perform as a soloist with a major symphony orchestra (the Philadelphia Orchestra).
Media Contact: Marci Janas
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