ROCHESTER, NY — An outstanding performance of Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 1 made Natalia Kazaryan, a 17-year-old originally from the Republic of Georgia, the first-place winner last night in the Eastman School of Music’s Eighth Annual Young Artists International Piano Competition.
As top winner of the weeklong competition for talented 14- to 18-year-old pianists, Kazaryan receives a $10,000 annual renewable scholarship to the Eastman School (upon satisfying all admission requirements) and a $4,000 cash award. She also won an award for the best performance in a master class.
This year, 25 competitors from the United States and several foreign countries (including China, Russia, Korea, Poland, and Japan) took part in the event. The second-place winner was Georgy Chaidze, 16, from Russia, who receives a $1,500 cash prize. Sun-A Park, a 16-year-old from Little Ferry, New Jersey, took third prize and $500. Two other competitors won awards as well: Beijing’s Yunfeng Cai, 17, for best performance of a classical sonata; and Serbia’s Vesna Djokic, 17, for best performance of a work composed after 1930.
The winners of the competition will present a special gala concert at 7:30 p.m. tonight: Friday, August 6, in Kilbourn Hall (26 Gibbs St.). Admission is $8 for the general public, $5 for University of Rochester faculty and staff, and free for students with ID. Tickets are available in advance by phone at 232-1900, or in person at the Ticket Window in the Main Hall of the Eastman School beginning at noon today. Any remaining tickets will be sold at the Kilbourn Hall Box Office beginning at 6:30 p.m. For more information call 585-274-1100.
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