Second annual piano competition finds its home at HPU
By Hannah Corwin// Staff Writer
On Sept. 10, the second annual piano competition will take place in the Pauline Theater in the Hayworth Fine Arts Center.
The competition will consist of three talented finalists, each playing a selection of music that will last for 55 minutes. In between each piano recital, there will be a 20-minute break to give the audience a time to stretch their legs and absorb the previous performance, as the next competitor prepares and the pianos are repaired or retuned. An award of $10,000 will be split between the finalists; the winner will receive $5,000 while the runner up and second runner up will receive $3,000 and $2,000, respectively.
According to Marcia Dills, the director of keyboard studies at High Point University, the prize money will come from the interest earned from the Randall Thomas Johnson Trust. According to Dills, Johnson donated the money because “he wanted the university to create a competition of national distinction, and [the university has] modeled this competition, on a much smaller scale, off of the Van Cliburn competition.” The competition is open to anyone ages 15-25 living or studying in the United States.
A prescreening jury picked the three finalists over the summer from YouTube submissions sent in by young hopefuls from around the country. According to Dr. Mayumi Osada, adjunct professor of piano, there were about 25 applicants who sent in YouTube submissions in the hope of being selected as a finalist. The three finalists, on the day of the competition, will play a selection of music that will include a large work like a sonata from the eighteenth century, a large work from the nineteenth century like Chopin or Rachmaninoff, and a twentieth century piece. The program, selected by contestants themselves, must include a large variety of styles.
On the day of the competition, the contestants will draw straws to see who will be playing in which slot. The first recital will run from 1:00-1:55 p.m., the second from 2:15-3:10 p.m., and the third from 3:30-4:25 p.m. The announcement of the winner by the judges will be at 5:30 p.m.
This year, there will be three judges on the panel, while last year there was only one. Dr. Andrew Willis from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Dr. Myron Brown of Winston-Salem State University and Dr. Charles Hogan, the former Organist Choir Master at St. Mary’s Episcopal and a former professor from Elon University will also be on the panel.
The day will be filled with very talented pianists playing beautiful music from across the centuries. The event is free and guests are welcome to drop in for as many of the performances as they have time for. It’s not everyday that such national talents are performing right in our own backyard.