Eastman International Young Artists Piano Competition

[pianohopper]

Say that five times fast! 

I doubt there's anybody from Rochester, NY in this forum, but even so, you get to hear about the wonderful piano competition going on in my hometown.  The famous Eastman School of Music runs this every year and offers a $80,000 scholarship to the winner!  The 21 competitors play a first round 20-minute recital program, and then a second round 30-minute program.  After that, all but six are eliminated.  These six go on to the concerto round, where they play the first movement of a concerto of their choice with an accompanist playing the orchestra reduction.  (The accompanists are students at Eastman, but extremely good -- one of them won the competition in its first year, when he was 14!)

The jury is composed of 6 world-class pianists: Paul Pollei, Min Kim, Yafen Zhu, Deirdra Doile, and Steve Laitz. 

Don't underestimate the pianists either, just becuase they are young (14-18).  They are seasoned performers and laureates of other national/international contests.

If you're around Rochester, you should make it a priority to go to the many events scheduled.