2007 Retrospective

Alexander Ghindin during his winning performance with
The Cleveland Orchestra.  (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)


The four finalists together on stage at Severance Hall.  
From left to right: Jury Chairman Piotr Paleczny, First Prize
Winner Alexander Ghindin, Fourth Prize Winner Ran Dank,
Second Prize Winner Yaron Kohlberg, and Third Prize Winner
Alexandre Moutouzkine.  (Photo by Roger Mastroianni)

Third Prize
$15,000 to Alexandre Moutouzkine
Presented by Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Manuel

Fourth Prize
$10,000 to Ran Dank
Presented by Dr. and Mrs. Richard Kaufman

Baroque Prize
$2,000 to Ran Dank for the best performance of a Baroque composition, presented by Art of Beauty.

Beethoven Prize
$1,500 to Alexandre Moutouzkine for the best performance of a work by Beethoven, presented by Barbara Evenchik, in memory of Marvin Evenchik.

Cairns Family American Prize
$1,500 to Esther Keel for the best performance of an American work composed after 1944, presented by The Cairns Family Foundation.

Chopin Prize
$2,000 to Dmitri Levkovich for the best performance of a Chopin composition, in memory of Gertrude Lewis Frohring, presented by the William O. and Gertrude Lewis Frohring Foundation.

Contemporary Prize
$2,000 to Yaron Kohlberg for the best performance of a contemporary work, presented by Art of Beauty.

Mozart Prize
$1,500 to Hoang Pham for the best performance of a Mozart composition, presented by Dr. and Mrs. Richard Kaufman.

Semi-Finalists
Dmitri Levkovich
Hélène Tysman
Wei-Jen Yuan
Andrius Zlabys

BRAVO PIANO WAS A HIGHLIGHT OF THE COMPETITION!

AT THE AWARDS CEREMONY....

Prize donors Richard and Connie Manuel with Third Prize winner Alexandre Moutouzkine.

Prize donors Carol and Richard Kaufman present the Fourth Prize to Ran Dank.

Photo by Dan Milner.

The 31 contestants of the 2007 Cleveland International Piano Competition, photographed at the Opening Ceremony on July 24.

HOW THE CONTESTANTS WERE CHOSEN

The 31 contestants were chosen following a rigorous, two-stage application and screening process designed to select the best candidates from among nearly 200 applicants.   First, pianists worldwide were notified to submit written applications and corroborating documents.  From those applicants, approximately 100 were invited to participate in DVD-recorded auditions.  This year, the Competition held recording sessions at Steinway facilities in Cleveland/Akron, New York, Munich, London, and Tokyo.  Applicants who were unable to participate in an on-site session were allowed to apply for permission to submit their own recordings.

Each performance was reviewed by a Selection Jury, comprised of Paul Schenly, head of the piano department at the Cleveland Institute of Music; Christina Dahl, a member of the piano faculty at SUNY Stony Brook, and Daniel Gortler, a faculty member at the Buchman-Mehta School of Music at the Tel Aviv University.  Following two days of intense review, the Selection Jury invited 24 men and 12 women, ranging in age from 18 to 30 to participate. 

2007 CONTESTANTS

Australia
            Mr. Roger Longjie Cui, 18
            Mr. Jayson Gillham, 20
            Mr. Hoang Pham, 22
 
Canada
            Mr. Sheng Cai, 19
            Mr. Dmitri Levkovich, 28
 
China
            Mr. Wenyu Shen, 20
            Mr. Diyi Tang, 27
             
France
            Mr. Nicolas Bringuier, 27
            Ms. Hélène Tysman, 24
 
Hungary
            Mr. István Lajkó, 25
 
Israel
            Mr. Ran Dank, 25
            Ms. Berenika Glixman, 22
            Mr. Yaron Kohlberg, 24
 
Italy
            Mr. Angelo Arciglione, 25
            Mr. Alessandro Taverna, 23
            Mr. Marco Vergini, 29
 
Japan
            Ms. Mayumi Sakamoto, 24
 
Korea
            Ms. Sangyoung Kim, 23
 
New Zealand
            Mr. John Chen, 21

Northern Ireland
            Mr. Cathal Breslin, 29

Russia
           Mr. Alexander Ghindin, 30             
           Mr. Alexandre Moutouzkine, 27
           Ms. Daria Rabotkina, 26
 
Lithuania
            Mr. Andrius Zlabys, 30
 
Germany
            Mr. Benjamin Moser, 26
 
Taiwan/China
            Ms. Ching-Yun Hu, 25
 
USA
            Ms. Jun Asai, 24
            Mr. Nino Cocchiarella, 24
            Ms. Esther Keel, 22
            Mr. Erikson Rojas, 24
            Mr. Wei-Jen Yuan, 24

THE “JUNIOR JURY”

Six young piano students were selected to serve as the Junior Jury for the 2007 Competition, giving them unprecedented access to the event and its key participants.  After listening and reviewing every round of the Competition, the Junior Jury awarded an honorary first prize of $1,000 to Alexandre Moutouzkine, of Russia, who was awarded Third Prize by the Competition's jury.

Members of the 2007 Junior Jury were:

•    Miss Jessica Du, age 16, Hathaway Brown School, class of 2009, piano student for eight years.
•    Miss Kelsey Ekker, age 18, Strongsville High School, class of 2007, piano student for eight years.
•    Mr. Jerry Lang II, age 18, HFJC Christian Institute, class of 2007, piano student for 12 years.
•    Miss Melody Lu, age 16, Hudson High School, class of 2008, piano student for eight years.
•    Miss Yue Qi, age 16, Shaker Heights High School, class of 2008, piano student for eight years.
•    Miss Jianni Wu, age 15, Hudson High School, class of 2010, piano student for eight years.