The
Second Tbilisi International Piano Competition Announces Prize Winners - Laureates
are from Azerbaijan, Russia, Australia and Japan
Tbilisi,
Republic of Georgia – The
Second Tbilisi International Piano Competition, held between 7-20
October, 2001 in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, has announced its list of
distinguished prizewinners. Pianists from 15 countries were invited
to Tbilisi to perform in the four rounds of the competition which were
presented at the Great Hall of the Tbilisi State Conservatoire and
the
Tbilisi Music Center.
21 contestants, representatives of eight countries, were admitted to the Second Round of the Competition, with 12 contestants, representatives of six countries, participating in the Third Round. Internationally renowned Georgian pianist Eliso Virsaladze gave a master class on Sunday, 14 October.
Six
contestants performed concertos with the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra under
the direction of Maestro Vakhtang Jordania in the Fourth and Final Round
of the Competition.
No
Grand Prix was awarded in this year’s competition.
Prizewinners of the Competition were:
2nd Prize of US $7,000 - Murad Adigezalzade of Azerbaijan
Two 3rd Prizes of US $5,000 each - Jacob Katsnelson of Russia - who also received the award for Best Performance of a Classical Sonata in the Second Round and Daniel Hill of Australia, who also recieved awards for Artistic Aptitude and Best Performance in the Semifinal Round.
4th Prize of US$ 4,000 - Tanja Chernichka of Russia
5th Prize of US $3,000 to Maki Sekiya of Japan
6th Prize of US $2,000 to Maria Massytcheva of Russia
Additional
awards included US $500 to Alexander
Jakobidze-Guitman from
Russia for the best performance of a Georgian composer’s work, Nodar
Mamisashvili’s “Scherzo barbaro”, by a foreign participant and a US
$500 Audience Favorite award to Viatcheslav Griaznov of Russia. Two awards
of US $500 each, the
Alexandre Nizharadze Prize to the best Georgian performers of the
Competition, were given to Nino Gvetadze and Ketevan Sepashvili. For
more information about these and the other competition prizes, please
visit http://www.mmc.net.ge/piano/frames.html.
All awards were given at the Tbilisi Music Center at a gala closing ceremony and concert on October 20. The major prizewinner’s concert engagements were announced at the Closing Ceremony of the Competition and include concerts in Kutaisi and Batumi, Georgia, on 22-23 October.
The Tbilisi International Piano Competition, under the patronage of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and General Director and its Founder Manana Doidjashvili, was founded in 1997 by the Georgian Music Competitions Fund and is held every four years. For more information about the competition and its requirements please visit the web site: http://www.mmc.net.ge/piano.
The
international jury came from Georgia – Chair Manana Doidjashvili, Tengiz
Amiredjibi, Edisher Rusishvili, France – Gerard Fremy, Russia- Stanislav
Igolinsky, Poland – Andrzej Jasinski, Great Britain- Piers Lane, Italy
– Dario De Rosa , Israel – Pnina Salzman, United States – Mark
Malkovich, III and Latvia – Arnis Zandmanis.
The major sponsor of the competition was the Gogi Topadze Fund. Other sponsors were British Petroleum, the Georgian International Oil Corporation, Airzena Georgian Air Lines Company, Georgian Pipeline Company, The Railway Department of Georgia, The Intellect Bank, The Bank of Georgia and The Hotel Tbilisi.
The
Competition received 98 entries from 21 countries including
Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, Germany, Israel,
Australia, Brazil, Switzerland, Japan, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, Ukraine,
Yugoslavia, USA, Poland, China, Latvia, Canada, Kazakhstan. The final list
of participants was greatly reduced because of recent international events
and transport problems.
The
Directorate of the Competition is Manana
Doidjshvili- Founder and General Director; Ia Khurtsidze, Deputy General
Director; Tamar Chikovani, executive secretary; Nana Strazhevskaya,
secretary–referent, Tamar
Kurdashvili - translator-referent and Marina Kavtaradze- press –secretary.
For more information about The Second Tbilisi International Piano Competition, visit their website at http://www.mmc.net.ge/piano. The Directorate can be contacted at 92 24 46 / 92 24 47; 92 0176. The Press Center can be reached at 98 71 84, or by email at classica@mmc.net.ge
