Who will win the Chopin Competition?

[ajlongspiano]

rubinsteinmad,

Keep in mind that " more celebrated " doesn't necessarily mean " more depth ", " more mature ", " more musical ", or a more talented musician. Fame happens randomly quite often. I'm not bashing these pianists, I love Daniil and Evgeny, they're brilliant. But don't confuse fame with raw skill and/or talent.

[rubinsteinmad]

rubinsteinmad,

Keep in mind that " more celebrated " doesn't necessarily mean " more depth ", " more mature ", " more musical ", or a more talented musician. Fame happens randomly quite often. I'm not bashing these pianists, I love Daniil and Evgeny, they're brilliant. But don't confuse fame with raw skill and/or talent.

OK, but the only Juillard pianists I like so far are:

Steven Lin <3333333
and I forgot the other two

[rubinsteinmad]

I noticed many of the Chopin Semi-finalists don't go to an American-recognized conservatory at all!
Maybe going to less famous conservatories helps you geniuses

[ajlongspiano]

Listen to Tomer Gewirtzman

[rubinsteinmad]

Listen to Tomer Gewirtzman

Listen to Tomer Gewirtzman

Why?

BTW the other Juillard graduates I like are:

Simone Dinnerstein and
Qi Kong

and someone else that I forgot again.

[ajlongspiano]

[irrational]

This hard to call for me. I don't know Chopin well enough to judge at this level, so I decided to go with performances I just enjoyed listening to or was pulled into the music.

For me I enjoyed for various reasons so far:
Cho, Klinton, Kobayashi
Krupinsky, Ksiazek, Lu, Liu, Nehring, Osokins
Hamelin 

I can narrow that I think to Ksiazek, Nehring, Hamelin possibly (Osokins is highly entertaining though)
I think Hamelin seems a bit more polished than Nehring.

[pencilart3]

I locked the voting because finals is starting.

[ajlongspiano]

gosh osokins was kind of a disaster haha

[rubinsteinmad]

gosh osokins was kind of a disaster haha

The Juillard probz must have already gotten to him..

#juillardkidprobz

[rubinsteinmad]

OMG Stephen Wigler is SO opinionated and thinks HE can judge who is good and who is not. what.
Some of his words:
   
   "The pianist I would predict as the winner is the 21-year-old Singapore-born American, Kate Liu, a student of Robert McDonald at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia,' says Wigler. 'Her performances of the F minor Ballade, Polonaise-Fantasy, Fantasy in F Minor and Sonata in B Minor impressed me as among the very best throughout the first three rounds. She's a real pianist in every sense of the term – a genuine talent, not something that is manufactured.  I love the sincerity of her playing.  There is an overall simplicity to what she does, but if you listen carefully you realise how beautifully everything is nuanced.

‘The 17-year-old Chinese–born American, Eric Lu – also a student of McDonald’s at Curtis – is almost as impressive. Lu obviously adores the playing of Grigory Sokolov. His performance of Chopin’s 24 Preludes in the third round much resembled the great Russian’s. Often very slow – his ‘Raindrop’ Prelude, like Sokolov's, lasted nearly seven minutes – and always very intense, what Lu achieved was not merely a carbon copy, but a performance energised by tremendous conviction.

‘Perhaps the greatest virtuoso among the ten finalists is the youngest, the 16-year-old Canadian-born Yike (Tony) Yang, who studies with Julian Martin at the Juilliard School in New York. Certainly, one could not imagine more brilliant performances of the Polonaise in A-flat (‘Heroic’), the Scherzo in C-sharp Minor or the B-flat minor ‘Funeral March’ Sonata. He's probably the most formidably equipped 16-year-old pianist since Evgeny Kissin, though he may have met his match in the F minor Ballade – a work that he threw off with ridiculous ease but which was emotionally light years beyond him. Yang plays Chopin’s E Minor Concerto in the final round, an age-appropriate work for this Wunderkind, and I would hesitate to vote against his chances for First Prize.

‘A personal favorite was the 26-year-old Croatian, Aljoša Jurinić , a student of Eliso Virsaladze, whose B minor Sonata made my hair stand on end.’

In summary, Wigler adds: ‘All but one of the 10 finalists would maker a worthy first-prize winner. The exception is the only Polish pianist, Szymon Nehring, whose over-loud, somewhat vulgar and not always accurate playing makes his presence in the finals a mystery.’

The finals of the 17th International Chopin Piano Competition run from 18 to 20 October 2015. Each of the finalists will play one of the Chopin piano concertos: No 1 in E minor, Op 11, or No 2 in F minor, Op 21. The artists will be accompanied by the Symphony Orchestra of the Warsaw Philharmonic conducted by Maestro Jacek Kaspszyk.

Finalists
Seong-Jin Cho (South Korea)
Aljoša Jurinić (Croatia)
Aimi Kobayashi (Japan)
Kate Liu (United States)
Eric Lu (United States)
Szymon Nehring (Poland)
Georgijs Osokins (Latvia)
Charles Richard-Hamelin (Canada)
Dmitry Shishkin (Russia)
Yike (Tony) Yang (Canada)
"

What a jerk.  I mean, I do think that Eric Lu and Kate Liu are very good, but he totally insulted Seong-jin Cho, Kobayashi, Szymon Nehrig (especially), Charles Richard-Hamelin, and Shishkin.
He also stated that he was emotionally light years above Tony by stating that "the Ballade was emotionally light years above him". Wigler has NO IDEA about what he's talking about. Emotions don't necessarily come from age. It sounds like one of those stupid quotes that dumb students get from smart teachers who don't want to let the student ruin a perfectly fine Chopin piece.

End of rant.   I HATE WIGLER AND SOME OTHER MUSIC CRITICS

[schumaniac]

again, I had to log on to say... Jurinic is NOT gonna win. Uh-uh.

also Rubinsteinmad, I found out who you are
but I feel empty inside
what was the point?
I also exceeded the 10 message per hour limit
so I'm done
back to Discipline Mode for me

[rubinsteinmad]

again, I had to log on to say... Jurinic is NOT gonna win. Uh-uh.

also Rubinsteinmad, I found out who you are
but I feel empty inside
what was the point?
I also exceeded the 10 message per hour limit
so I'm done
back to Discipline Mode for me

me too. Next time let' chat on SoundCloud

[rubinsteinmad]

I TOLD you guys they wouldn't award the top 2 prizes to an American, even if they deserved it.

Anyways...

Seong-jin Cho: Paris Conservatoire
THE Hamelin: McGill (with Andre LaPlante <333) and Yale University Music School (hopefully his grades are better than George  Bush's )
Kate Liu- Chicago Institute; CURTIS <33333
Eric Lu- New England Conservatory Prep School; CURTIS <33333
Tony Yke Yang- Toronto Conservatory (royal school); Juillard Ore-college (since September 2014)
Dmitry Shishkin- Some local school; Gnessin Music School; MOSCOW CONSERVATORY <3333
Others- why would you care?

[pencilart3]

AJ wins. I lose. In my book, Eric wins the competition and Aimi wins everything else.

[emill]

The winners are "terribly GOOD" ... some a bit better .... but my SENTIMENTAL favorites were George Li and Annie Zhou as my son Enzo did a video with them together with some other kids like Marc YU of NatGeo's "My Brilliant Brain" for the children victims of the Haiti earthquake ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmxRyTFKp84 ).

It was a pity the George Li had to withdraw ... became so swamped with so many other things.  Annie Zhou, winner at Ettlingen Piano Competition, is still so young at 17 and progressively improving.

My prediction for the 2020 Chopin Competition .... AJ ! ! ! without a doubt   with Enzo as the dark horse.   mark my word!

[rubinsteinmad]

again, I had to log on to say... Jurinic is NOT gonna win. Uh-uh.

also Rubinsteinmad, I found out who you are
but I feel empty inside
what was the point?
I also exceeded the 10 message per hour limit
so I'm done
back to Discipline Mode for me

OMG, I just noticed that that was a piece of poetry. A terrible one, though

[schumaniac]

OMG, I just noticed that that was a piece of poetry. A terrible one, though

it wasn't intentional

[rubinsteinmad]

it wasn't intentional

I felt the same way for you, it felt so mysterious and cool, so when I found out your identity, "schumaniac" wasn't mysterious and cool, anymore.

[schumaniac]

I felt the same way for you, it felt so mysterious and cool, so when I found out your identity, "schumaniac" wasn't mysterious and cool, anymore.

Same
What even was the point (I'm asking both of us)

[schumaniac]

Interesting how one person voted for Krupinski. ALL judges voted "no" for him. How does one explain this?

[pencilart3]

Interesting how one person voted for Krupinski. ALL judges voted "no" for him. How does one explain this?

One of the judges thought cho shouldn't have made it to finals. That same judge gave him a 1 in finals. That means 1 out of 10. Worst possible.

[rubinsteinmad]

Same
What even was the point (I'm asking both of us)

I was the one who started it, so Ill apologize now:

Sorry dude, you need a tastebud transplant.

[schumaniac]

I was the one who started it, so Ill apologize now:

Sorry dude, you need a tastebud transplant.

idk what you mean by that
you talking about my playing? my teacher??

[swagmaster420x]

Seong-jin Cho or Eric Lu. Maybe Kate Liu.

And maybe the other people, but I haven't heard them play, soo I cant say.

I don't think the judges will give the prize to an American, though.

wow u were rite howd u know

[amytsuda]

Interesting how one person voted for Krupinski. ALL judges voted "no" for him. How does one explain this?

That was me!  I was so lazy to listen to 20 people, and wanted to see the results of voting. And it doesn't show me the results, unless I vote, so I randomly selected based on the winner-sounding name I mean Polish-sounding name...