Pianist Sejoon Park

PRELUDE RECITAL
Friday, June 4
Wisconsin Conservatory of Music
7:30 pm
Adults $15; Students $10

Sejoon Park, 2008 winner, sets the standard for the competition to follow. His program includes works by Robert Schumann, Domenico Scarlatti, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Speaking about himself, Sejoon says, "I am a normal teenager who happens to be in love with music.... to feel the connection between myself and the audience is extremely rewarding”… something Sejoon Park tries to achieve everyday. When Sejoon is not performing or listening to piano music, he enjoys being with his friends, participating in athletics and listening to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart operas, Dimitri Shostakovich symphonies and Peter Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto. But when he was a young student in Seoul, Korea, he was not excited about taking piano lessons. Later on he experienced the joy of expressing himself at the piano and became “addicted to music.”

Sejoon was eleven when he moved to the United States to live with his aunt and to study at the Levin School of Music. When he arrived, he could not speak English. Today, he is an honor student, graduate of McLean High School and college sophomore. Sejoon attends the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University, where he studies with Boris Slutsky

In 2007 Sejoon won first prize in the Aspen Music Festival Piano Concerto and performed Edward Grieg’s Piano Concerto with the Orchestra of the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. In 2006 he won first Prize in the Southeastern Piano Concerto Competition and performed the Grieg’s concerto with the South Carolina Philharmonic. Other awards include first prizes in the Marlin-Engel and the Cogen Concerto Competitions, both sponsored by the Levine School of Music in Washington D. C., and first prize at the Alexandria Performing Art Association Competition, second prize in the Oberlin International Piano Competition, second prize in the PianoArts 2005 National Competition and third prize in the Eastman Music School International Piano Competition. Sejoon was selected for the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award, which carries a generous scholarship and the opportunity to appear on the well-known "From the Top" radio show.

PIANOARTS AWARDS:
2008 First Place Prize

2006 Scholarship to the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College of Music in New York City

2006 Best Performance of a Duo

Meet the Judges: José Feghali

José Feghali burst upon the music world in 1985 when he won the Gold Medal in the Seventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Ten days later, he performed his United States recital debut to a sold-out hall in Pasadena, California. Today, he is a celebrated artist who has performed over 800 concerts worldwide with renowned orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Gewandhaus, Royal Concertgebouw, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, London Symphony, Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic and, in the U. S. with the Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Houston, Dallas, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Baltimore, National, Jacksonville and Nashville symphony orchestras. He has collaborated with eminent conductors, such as Kurt Masur, Neeme Järvi, John Nelson, James DePriest, Yuri Temirkanov, Leonard Slatkin, Kurt Sanderling, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Christoph Eschenbach, Eduardo Mata, Sergiu Comissiona, Philippe Entremont, Andrew Litton, Zdenek Macal, Hans Graf, David Zinman and Hans Vonk.

Among his recitals on prestigious stages in the United States are those at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and in major halls in Los Angeles and Chicago, where the press hailed him as a pianist “whose gift is musicianship on the most rarefied level.” Others include the Kravis and Meyerson Symphony centers, and performances on the Cliburn Concert series and Ravinia Festival.

His extensive worldwide engagements include the United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Eastern Europe, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and Latin America. As a chamber musician, Mr. Feghali has collaborated with the renowned flutist James Galway, cellists Truls Mørk, Antonio Meneses and Daniel Gaisford, violinists Régis Pasquier, Olivier Charlier and Emanuel Borok, duo piano with André Watts, and performances of Richard Strauss’ Enoch Arden with tenor Jon Vickers. Mr. Feghali is an Artist/Faculty member and Associate Director of the Mimir Chamber Music Festival in Fort Worth, and a regular performer at the “Classical Action/Performing Artists Against Aids” benefit concerts.

Born in Brazil, Mr. Feghali gave his first public performance at age five and appeared with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra when he was eight. When he was fifteen, he moved to London to study with Maria Curcio Diamond and later was a scholarship student at the Royal Academy of Music with Christopher Elton.

Recordings by Mr. Feghali include a compact disc of music inspired by dance for Koss Classics and his live recording from the Van Cliburn Competition on the VAI label. Recent recordings include an all–Schumann program and an all–Brahms program with cellist Daniel Gasiform on the Anacapa Music label. For Naxos, Mr. Feghali, a major advocate of Brazilian music, recorded Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas brasileria no. 3 for Piano and Orchestra with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and conductor Kenneth Schermerhorn.

Mr. Feghali has a special interest in recording technology and is the producer and re-mastering engineer for the retrospective set of nine compact discs for Video Artists International and VAI Audio featuring the live performances of past medalists in the Van Cliburn Competitions. He is Artist–in–Residence at Texas Christian University and serves as Vice President and Executive Director for the new Anacapa Music label.

José Feghali Web site

Meet the Judges: Robert McDonald

American pianist Robert McDonald has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America, and the Far East as a soloist and in chamber recitals. His leading violin partners have been Isaac Stern and Midori. He also performs with Yung Uck Kim, Nadja Salerno–Sonnenberg and Elmar Oliverira, among other artists.

Mr. McDonald has a strong commitment to music education. He is on the piano faculties of both the Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music and is director of the keyboard program of the Taos School of Music and Chamber Music Festival in New Mexico. He is a former faculty member at the North Carolina School of the Arts, Oberlin and the Peabody Conservatories, and gives classes regularly at the Glenn Gould Professional School in Toronto. Other summer teaching and festival activities include those in Bergen, Besançon, Lucerne, Montreux, Salzburg, Aldeburgh, and Schleswig­–Holstein festivals in Europe, the Marlboro, Brevard and Caramoor festivals in the United States, and the International School of Musical and Arts and the Banff Center in Canada. He also gives piano and chamber music master classes at prominent universities and music schools in the United States, Canada, Japan and Korea.

An active chamber musician, he has performed with the Juilliard, American, Muir, Takacs, Brenano, Fine Arts, St. Lawrence, Borromeo, Shanghai, Orlando, and Chicago quartets, as well as with Musicians from Marlboro on several of their tours. He has also appeared as soloist with the San Francisco, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Omaha, and Curtis symphony orchestras, the Orquestra Sinfonica Nacional of Costa Rica, and the Orchestra Sinfonica Haydn di Bolzano e Trento in Italy. In addition, he has given concerts for the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, NHK and BBC television Worldwide.

Among numerous awards, prizes, and grants, Mr. McDonald won the Gold Medal at the Busoni International Piano Competition in Italy, and top prizes at the William Kapell and Washington International Competitions in the United States. He is also the recipient of the National Federation of Music Clubs Artist Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Solo Recitalist Grant, and a Career Grant from the Philadelphia Foundation Arthur Hill Fund.

Mr. McDonald’s extensive recordings include those for Sony Classical, Vox, Bridge, Musical Heritage, CRI and ASV. An album of French sonata repertoire with Midori for Sony Classical received the Deutscher Schallplatten Critic’s prize in 2002.

A magna cum laude graduate of Lawrence University in Wisconsin, where Theodore Rehl was his principal teacher, Mr. McDonald continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music with Seymour Lipkin, Rudolf Serkin, and Mieczyslaw Horszowski; at the Juilliard School with Beveridge Webster; and at the Manhattan School of Music with Gary Graffman.

Robert McDonald's biography on Taos School of Music Web site

Meet the Judges: Joel Harrison

Joel Harrison is Artistic Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Pianists Association, an organization that discovers, promotes and advances the careers of young American world-class jazz and classical pianists.

In this position, he is responsible for an extensive, unique and highly competitive fellowship program that provides career assistance worth over $75,000 over a period of two years for one Jazz Cole Porter Fellow and two Classical Fellows.

Other programs under the direction of Dr. Harrison are the DeHaan National Orchestra Program, a nationwide program of concerto performances with orchestras performed by APA Fellows; PianoFest, a national and international touring program; Music Matters, an in-house recital series for friends of APA; the Concerto Curriculum, an educational and community outreach program; and a new classical concert series in the 2009-2010 season, Grand Encounters that will debut with a recital by André Watts.

Through collaborations with the U. S. State Department,Dr. Harrison tours internationally as a United States cultural envoy in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the Caucasus and Northern Africa with the APA Classical and Jazz Fellows.

Dr. Harrison judges for international piano competitions and serves on local, regional and national arts committees and boards. He was a music consultant for Sky magazine of Delta Airlines and co-produced a highly acclaimed APA series of three compact discs on the Harmonia Mundi label, which is marketed internationally. As a concert artist, Dr. Harrison performed with critical success on two occasions at Weill Hall of Carnegie Hall, and with his colleague,Lana Johns, performed extensively in Europe and the United States.

Prior to his appointment with the American Pianist Association, Dr. Harrison was on the faculties at Davidson College in North Carolina and Mississippi State University, where he was also Director of the Mississippi Piano Showcase and Touring Artist for the Mississippi Arts Commission. Dr. Harrison received degrees from the University of North Carolina, Indiana University and Northwestern University. He continued with his education in Switzerland, Austria and Italy, where he studied with Guido Agosti. He lives in Indianapolis and, in addition to his music activities, pursues interests in contemporary art and architecture.

American Pianists Association Web site

Day 6: Promenades and Finals

Piano Promenades

At 6pm in the Wisconsin Lutheran College reception hall outside Schwann Concert Hall, 7 Semi-Finalists gave their last performances of the 2008 PianoArts Festival. It was a relaxed environment and their musical expression was greatly appreciated by a crowd of onlookers and admirers.

2008 PianoArts Final Round

At 8pm, the final round began. Sean Yeh led off, just as he had the day before in the second day of Semi-Finals. His performance of Beethoven's 3rd Concerto in C minor was passionate and virtuosic. As in the first round, accuracy was sacrificed for the sake of the intensity he wanted to communicate, and there were ensemble issues with soloist and orchestra. The second movement had pedal issues as chords were not resolved - perhaps the pedal was held longer for the sake of acoustics in the big hall, but still it sounded muddy. That aside, Sean's playing was emphatic, direct, blazing and daring, and the conclusion was exciting.

Paige Chun Li played nearly flawlessly with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Andrews Sill. She performed Beethoven's 1st Concerto in C major. Her clean technique and control of color and phrasing was magnified on the brilliant-sounding Steinway concert grand with a light-weighted action. Her musical expression was committed and the ensemble was wonderful. It was obvious that the orchestra loved playing with her.

Sejoon Park concluded the concert with a dramatic and moving interpretation of Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto. Although there were mistakes early on, it was a case of nerves that any pianist can relate to, and it never tripped him up. However, his rushing caused a problem for the ensemble particularly in the first movement. The second movement began surprisingly slow, but was carefully planned and beautifully cultivated. As in the other rounds, Sejoon's playing radiated musical beauty in the slow moments. The finale was invigorating and complete.

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Prizes and Awards

First Prize: Sejoon Park; $8,000
Second Prize: Paige Chun Li; $5,000
Third Prize: Sean M. Yeh; $3,000

Scholarship to the Mannes College International Keyboard Institute and Festival: Sejoon Park
Audience Communication Award: Paige Chun Li; $500
String and Piano Duo Award: Brian Chang; $500

There were no Wisconsin Contestants this year, so no award was given in this category.

Day 1: Registration, Orientation, and Refreshments

On Thursday, June 19, students and parents from around the United States arrived in Milwaukee for the start of the PianoArts 2008 National Competition. After registering at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and practicing a couple hours, contestants were summoned to the Helen Bader Concert Hall for a random selection of the performance order. For Sunday: First will be Choo Choo, then Yoshiko, Brian, Amy, Paige, Sejoon, Yi An, Sean, Alexander, and finally Hunter. For Monday, Sean will lead off, followed by Sejoon, Amy, Choo Choo, Yoshiko, Brian, Hunter, Alex, Yi An, and Paige.

After the drawing, contestants, their parents, and some host families were treated by the Prometheus Trio's thrilling performance of Schoenfeld's "Café Music" piano trio, a bluesy and showy piece, in short. The trio - Stefanie Jacob at piano, Timothy Klabunde on Violin, and Scott Tisdel on Cello - will assist competitors on Sunday in violin and cello duos and the first movement of their concerto. The trio has an active residence at Wisconsin Conservatory, and the individuals are outstanding teachers and professional musicians for Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Arriving late, I caught most of the trio's performance from the hallway. When they had left the stage, Sue Medford came to congratulate them and was surprised to see me outside the recital hall. She introduced me and hurried back offstage. I told everyone that I am in intern with PianoArts, that I will be writing about the competition online and will later try to publish a story, and that if they have questions, they can ask me. Later, when Yi An Pan's mother did ask me a question, I realized that I should have said, "Ask me, and I'll gladly ask someone else for you." Her question regarded piano practice rooms. Although Wisconsin Conservatory and host families provide pianos, the conservatory closes around 7:30 - much earlier than is convenient for contestants staying in hotel rooms. Fortunately, PianoArts is an integrated organization in Milwaukee. The Steinway Gallery's owner, Barbara Wanless, will keep the Wauwatosa store available after hours during the competition for practicing.

Perhaps having one central practice location would be more convenient. But PianoArts' involvement around the city is unique. There are events at a musical center (Wisconsin Conservatory Thursday through Sunday), at an Art Gallery (Charles Allis on Monday), and at a college concert hall with nationally praised acoustics (Schwann Hall at Wisconsin Lutheran College on Tuesday). This publicizes and promotes the arts in two ways: First, it brings top-notch classical piano music to a variety of settings. Secondly, it opens up the contestants to those settings and allows them to see different sides of the city. For many competitions, one may come to a city and never see anything besides the one building where it takes place.

Likewise, Thursday's reception integrated local flavor and offered competitors and their families a chance to see more of Milwaukee. Among the refreshments generously provided by Marguerite Alpers, punch, elegant shrimp wraps and tasty asian dishes were countered by Wisconsin turkey-brats, Usinger's sausage and cheese, and Sprecher Sodas. "Very Wisconsin," contestant Amy Lauters said with a smile.

Following the reception, those of us who weren't too exhausted from long travels and 4AM alarm clocks accepted complimentary tickets to see "Classical Connections" with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at Uihlein Hall. The program featured pleasant Strauss and Mozart music, humourous and informative speeches by Andreas Delfs and Frank Almond, and an astounding performance by guest Gil Shaham of the second and third movements from Brahms' violin concerto.

From there, everyone headed to bed for sleep, or back to the piano.

PianoArts: Ahead of Competition

PianoArts: Ahead of Competition

Pianists compete for many reasons and experience rewarding benefits, great or small, whether or not they win. But a time comes when basic experience - nervousness, constructive criticism, additional performances, or small prizes - are not enough. At this time, pianists seek greater opportunity; some stepping stone to a professional career.

Numerous National and International competitions serve that purpose, such as the Gina Bachauer International Young Artists’ Competition, the Minnesota Piano-e-Competition, the Southeastern Piano Competition, the New York Piano Competition, the Virginia Waring International Competition (formerly the Joanna Hodges-), and the PianoArts National Piano Competition. Several of these competitions offer a performance with an orchestra; all demand great dedication from its competitors and deserve highest commendation for their standards of excellence.

Yet, only one of these competitions - PianoArts - provides one-on-one professional coaching for contestants prior to competing. Contestants also learn to interact with the audience by speaking about their music in each round, and in later years winners return for Milwaukee concerts. They also perform and speak with students at dozens of Milwaukee Public Schools as part of an extended Artist-in-Residence program. During the competition, PianoArts requires 71 minutes of music to be performed, mostly from memory, including the performance of a complete concerto by three finalists with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

Experience the excitement June 22 through June 24, while ten semi-finalists compete in a grueling and inspiring quest to perform a full concerto with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, while reaching the stepping stone to a professional career.

Evaluations, Insight, and Praise

"I think the phrase 'competition' is misleading, because the atmosphere of this experience is more like that of a music academy where the focus is on piano art, where one goes to sharpen artistic skills and made friends instead of focusing on winning." -Konrad Binienda, 2006 Finalist

"The two things I was most impressed about at this competition were the integrity of the judges' comments and the organization of the competition. I learned quite a bit from my conferences with the judges especially in terms of my long-term development. The organization of the competition was very impressive and was clear that a tremendous amount of time and energy had gone into the crafting of the competition schedule." - 2006 contestant

Jie Chen credited PianoArts and her competition experience with giving her the "confidence she needed" to pursue her performing career. -Jie Chen, 2003 First Place Winner

"PianoArts is not just a competition. the people organizing the competition go to such lengths to make your experience a good one, and the environment is such that all the competitors become friends, something I have never seen before. I would also say that purely as a competition, Piano Arts is very respectable and maintains a very high level of competitiveness. Finally, I would say that the best thing about the organization is that it's always changing and moving in new directions."-2006 contestant

"It was so much more than a competition and I think all involved (the contestants) left changed in some way." -2006 contestant

"My overall experience in this competition was very positive. I felt I played very well, and was rewarded for it with with the scholarship to the Festival at Mannes. The people I met in Milwaukee were invariably very wise and helpful, especially my hosts. The competition was so professionally run and the music so wonderful that I cannot help but feel it was more a vacation than a competition. This was my most positive competition experience by far." -2006 contestant

"Performing in front of diverse age groups in places like schools retirement centers and even a small house concert (Soirée) taught me how to approach the different age groups of listeners and adapt to particular situations." -InSoo Jung, 2005 Winner of First Place Winner

"The rehearsals with the professional musicians were valuable experiences – such great opportunities for everyone, not just the finalists." -2006 contestant

"The opportunities offered to me by PianoArts, have changed my attitude towards classical music in 21^st century. Not only must a pianist/musician be a world class performer, but he/she must show the world why it is so important to keep classical music alive. Through my experiences, I have been inspired to keep community outreach an active part of my career. The PianoArts organization truly understands and embraces classical music in today’s world. They have enriched the lives of countless people and I am grateful and honored to be a part of the PianoArts family.

In the last few years, I have realized the most important task for young musicians is to be ambassadors of classical music. This means we must find new and exciting ways to inspire the youth and show the world classical music; PianoArts is a leader in this field." -Jacob Ertl, 2002 Winner of Second Place Prize

Concerts: Do You Watch, Listen, or Experience?

Students, teachers, amateurs, music lovers: Don't underestimate the value of attending live concerts. With the ever-expanding range of technology, my generation often becomes socially isolated. Not in the sense that we don't hang out with friends, but because if we want to hear a fresh musical interpretation, check difficult fingering, or explore technical motions, we don't all flock to a concert; often, we individually search websites like youtube.com to hear and watch Arthur Rubinstein, Martha Algerich, Evgeny Kissin, Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel, Vladimir Horowitz and so on. But recordings cannot, and never will, adequately capture the subtleties of live acoustics and energy in a hall. It is a unique and exclusive interaction between audience member and performer. Just as you visit friends to see and hear them, it is through a combination of these senses that we want to be entertained, to be moved, to learn, to ponder, and - most of all - to be inspired. From June 20 through June 24, PianoArts gives us this chance to be exhilarated, as young men and women with gifts of great talent perform roughly 15 hours of piano repertoire cumulatively at various locations in Milwaukee. For students growing in music, this is invaluable. It is self-evident that we do not attend concerts to remind them of what music sounds like. We go to experience something fresh, live, and unpredictable. We go because we crave excellence. We admire beauty. We appreciate intellectual thoughtfulness. We go to inspire our imagination and see artists fulfill their dreams.

Schedule of Events: June 20 - 24

2008 PianoArts National Bienniel Competition

PRELUDE RECITAL - Michelle Naughton
Friday, June 20: 8PM - Wisconsin Conservatory
"Michelle Naughton sets the standard for the competition to follow! There is something invigorating about Michelle's performances. This is a splendid opportunity to hear this superb talent in a solo piano recital."

SEMIFINAL DUO RECITALS
Sunday, June 22: 9:30am - 6:30pm, Wisconsin Conservatory
"Semifinalists discuss their music and perform piano and violin or cello duos with musicians from the Milwaukee Symphony and the first movements of concertos with a second pianist before the panel of judges. Discover young, talented pianists performing with Milwaukee's pros."

SEMIFINAL SOLO RECITALS
Monday, June 23: 10am - 5pm, Charles Allis Art Museum
"Semifinalists shine as they perform solo piano recitals and discuss their music before the judges."

FINALS & AWARDS CONCERT
* Tuesday, June 24: 8pm, Schwann Concert Hall @ Wisconsin Lutheran College
"In the Awards Concert, finalists perform Mozart or Beethoven piano concertos with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and PianoArts Music Director Andrews Sill. Don't miss this grand finale performed by young virtuosos, and see the beginnings of what may be significant careers of classical pianists."

* ALSO on Tuesday, June 24:
3pm CONCERTO MASTER CLASS in Schwan Concert Hall @ WLC
6pm PIANO PROMENADES - A final recital, in the WLC Arts lobby, for those not selected as finalists.