Memorable Final of the Competition on September 18, with three concerts by Prokofiev, Beethoven and Schumann
The three finalists of the Piano Section of the George Enescu Competition 2022 were decided on Friday evening by the expert jury, in the presence of the artistic director of the International George Enescu Competition and Festival, conductor Cristian Măcelaru. The young musicians from Israel, Romania and Hong Kong (China) will perform works by Prokofiev, Beethoven and Schumann in the last Final of the Competition, which takes place on September 18 at 6:00 p.m. at the Romanian Athenaeum. During the Final, the winners of the Composition Section will also be announced, including the Award for Originality, awarded for the first time at this edition of the Competition and also the “Constanta Erbiceanu” Award for the best ranked Romanian pianist will be awarded by the Erbiceanu Cultural Foundation totaling 2000 euros. The event is sold-out and will mark the end of the 2022 edition, held under the sign of hope and the joy of returning to the concert halls.
The semi-finals of the “George Enescu” International Competition 2022, Piano Section, took place on September 15 and 16, at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, in the presence of the artistic director of the George Enescu International Competition and Festival, conductor Cristian Măcelaru. The expert jury decided on Friday, September 16, the qualified competitors for the Grand Final of the Competition for the Piano Section. They are, in alphabetical order:
Alexandra Segal (Israel), George Todică (Romania) și Chun Lam U (Hong Kong, China)
The jury of the Piano Section at the 2022 edition of the Enescu Competition consists of: Nelson Goerner (president), Luiza Borac, Dana Borșan, Philippe Dinkel, Peter Jablonski, Andrea Lucchesini, Andrei Pisarev, Matti Raekallio and Josu de Solaun.
The final of the Competition, the Piano Section, consisting of three orchestra concerts, with the extraordinary participation of the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Kensho Watanabe, will take place on September 18, from 6:00 p.m., in the Great Hall of the Romanian Athenaeum. The tickets for the Grand Final have been sold out, and those who did not manage to buy a ticket have the opportunity to watch the live broadcasts of the concerts, on the website of the Contest (www.festivalenescu.ro) on Radio Romania Musical or on TVR2.
Alexandra Segal represents Israel and will perform in the Grand Final Piano Concert no. 3 in C major Op. 26 by Sergei Prokofiev. She was born in Kyiv, Ukraine in 1995. She started studying piano at the age of six with Prof. Natalie Tolpygo. She is currently studying at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz with Prof. Milana Chernyavska. Alexandra Segal has given concerts in Israel, the United States of America, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Latvia, Croatia and Ukraine, some of which have been broadcast live on radio and television. She won 3rd prize at the Medici International Music Competition (2021), 3rd prize at the Chicago International Music Competition (2020), 1st prize at the Piano Forever Competition (2017, Israel), 1st prize at the by Arianne Katcz Piano (2017), 1st prize at the Pnina Salzman Competition for Young Pianists (2017), 3rd prize at the Riga International Piano Competition (2012), 1st prize at the Crimean Spring International Piano Competition (2010) . She has performed as a soloist with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, the Kyiv Chamber Orchestra, the Donetsk Philharmonic Orchestra, the Raanana Symphonette and the Buchmann-Mehta Music School Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of such conductors as Vag Papian, Avi Ostrowsky , Yoav Talmi and Guy Feder.
George Todică, Romania, chose to perform în the Final the Piano Concert no. 4 in G major Op. 58 by Ludwig van Beethoven. He obtained his Artist Diploma at the Royal College of Music, London in 2019 under the tutelage of Norma Fisher, after completing his MA at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2017, where he studied with Norman Beedie and Jonathan Plowright. He made his Wigmore Hall debut in October 2018 as a Tillett Trust Young Artist. Awarded 1st prize at Royal Over-Seas League Keyboard Prize (2022), Norah Sande Award in England, Stefano Marizza Piano Competition in Italy, Moray Piano Competition, Scotland, Llangollen International Festival; 2nd prize at the International Piano Campus Competition in France and 3rd prize at the Istanbul International Piano Competition. In the field of chamber music, George frequently collaborates with soprano Charlotte Hoather, with whom he has recorded 4 albums, and is part of the Chloé Piano Trio, together with violinist Maria Gîlicel and cellist Jobine Siekman. George Todică made his debut with the orchestra at the age of 14, with the Moldova Philharmonic from Iasi and performed as a soloist with the New Edinburgh Orchestra, the Istanbul Orchestra’Sion, the Cambridge Graduate Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of the Royal Conservatory of Scotland, the Orchestra of Cergy-Pontoise, Paris, the Learig Orchestra and Stewart’s Melville College Orchestra.
Chun Lam U is from Hong Kong (China), and the repertoire he chose for the Final of the George Enescu International Competition, Piano Section is the Piano Concerto in A minor Op. 54 by Robert Schumann. He was born in 2002 and currently studies at Oberlin Conservatory with Prof. Dang Thai Son. He started studying piano at the age of 5 at the GMC Academy of Music in Hong Kong (China) with Prof. Rizzo Chung. His achievements include prizes at the Steinway & Sons International Youth Piano Competition in China, the Chopin International Piano Competition in Asia, the Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Musicians, the Hanoi International Piano Competition, the Van Cliburn Piano Competition Junior and the Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists. Chun Lam has collaborated with the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, the Vietnam Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong (China) Youth Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductors Lavard Skou-Larsen and David Gómez Ramírez. He participated in masterclasses given by renowned pianists and teachers, such as Maria João Pires, Tamás Ungár, William Grant Naboré, Lee Kum-Sing, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, Angela Cheng or Reiko Kikuchi.
The 18th edition of the George Enescu International Competition takes place in Bucharest between September 4 and 18. This year, the George Enescu International Competition marks the return to the theater, after two years in which cultural events had to reinvent themselves and move partially or totally online. The message that the Enescu Contest sends this year is that of regaining hope: Music of hope | Music of Hope. Over 100 young musicians from all over the world signed up for the online stage of the Contest. Among them, 34 talented artists will have the opportunity to take the stage of the Romanian Athenaeum, between September 4 and 18, in the Semi-Final and Final stages in the three interpretive sections: violin, cello and piano.
For more details, please visit: https://www.festivalenescu.ro
The official photographers of the Enescu 2022 Competition will make a series of live images from the events of the Competition available to the media free of charge. They can be accessed at this link. The official photographers of the Enescu 2022 Competition will make a series of live images from the events of the Competition available to the media free of charge.
Press contact:
Maria Ursică: [email protected], +40 728 832 180
