SRO as Chopin Fills the Air
On Sept. 11-13 thirteen competitors from around the world met at Maple Grove estate in Cape Vincent, NY to showcase their talents on a nine foot Steinway Grand Piano. Each day brought overflow crowds to the tent that overlooked the St. Lawrence. The competitors ranged from 10 to 25 years of age and competed in two age classes. On Sunday, after the students completed their final round, audiences were treated to guest performances by Joseph Mohan, one of last year’s winners and by Andrew Russo, piano virtuoso from Syracuse, NY. Both performances were met with standing ovations. At the conclusion of the guest performances the winners of the competition were announced. In Class I (age 18 and younger) first place went to Brian Lai, 17 of Webster, NY and second place was shared by Francisco Chominalez, 15 of New York City and Mark Sieling, 17 of Pompey, NY. In Class II (age 19 – 25) first place went to Sun-A Park, 21 of Little Ferry, NY, second place was a tie with awards going to Helen Cha, 25 and Michael Noble, 21 both students at Eastman School of Music and third prize went to Weiwen Ma, 24, of Shanghai.
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