Outstanding piano talents at the Semperoper

The Semperoper in Dresden is a landmark of classical music. At the prize winners’ concert of the 3rd International Carl Maria von Weber Piano Competition in Dresden, it provided a magnificent backdrop for the outstanding performances of the young pianists, who will surely remember this performance for the rest of their lives.

About 50 pianists between the ages of eight and 20 were invited to take part in this year’s piano competition, which was organized by the Saxon State Gymnasium in cooperation with the Dresden University of Music and supported by the Carl Bechstein Foundation and the C. Bechstein Center Dresden. Competition director Mirjana Rajic assembled two high-caliber juries for the four age groups: Professors Christian A. Pohl (chair), Dragomir Bratic, William Fong, Roland Krüger, and Gesa Lücker awarded the prizes in age groups I to III. Professors Michel Dalberto (chair), Alexsandar Madzar, Henri Sigfridsson, Natalia Trull, and Florian Uhlig focused on age group IV (18 to 24 years), whose participants had to prepare a program for three rounds.

Five participants reached the final in this age group, which took place in the concert hall of the Dresden University of Music with the university’s symphony orchestra conducted by Professor Ekkehard Klemm. The audience had the pleasure of hearing Schumann’s A minor concerto three times, Chopin’s E minor concerto once, and Carl Maria von Weber’s Concert Piece for Piano and Orchestra in F minor, Op. 79, once. Lezi Zhang, who studies with Professor Matthias Kirschnereit in Rostock, won this exciting final with a very confident and at the same time spirited interpretation of the Schumann concerto.

The high standard of the competition was also evident at the prize winners’ concert in the Semperoper, when, for example, 14-year-old Linda Yuan brought Ravel’s highly virtuosic Scarbo to life with a stormy performance, or Jonathan Ng (also from age group II) let his nimble fingers fly over the keyboard of the C. Bechstein D 282 concert grand piano in Pierre Sancan’s motoric Toccata. He shared second prize in age group II with Dorothea Hanebuth, who also received the special prize for the best interpretation of a work by Carl Maria von Weber and thrilled the audience with the first movement of Weber’s Fourth Sonata. We would like to extend our warmest congratulations to the Carl Bechstein Foundation scholarship holder.

Eva Hummler, winner of age group I, had already paid tribute to the competition’s namesake with her performance of Rondo brillante, Op. 62. In age group III, only a third prize was awarded, which went to Daniyl Tyurin, who also presented himself as a young virtuoso with his performance of Saint-Saëns’ Danse macabre in the Liszt/Horowitz version. A list of all prize winners can be found on the competition’s website.

photos © Marcus Lieder/Sächsisches Landesgymnasium für Musik Dresden