VINCITORI - 21° Concorso Internazionale per Pianoforte e Orchestra "Città di Cantù"

SEZIONE A - CONCERTI CLASSICI

1° PREMIO
Sato Takashi GIAPPONE MOZART 453

2° PREMIO
Sangiovanni Scipione ITALIA BEETHOVEN 1

3° PREMIO
Graf Aglaia SVIZZERA MOZART 414

SEZIONE B - CONCERTI ROMANTICI

1° PREMIO ex-aequo
Chistiakova Galina RUSSIA TCHAIKOWSKY
Tanaka Masaya GIAPPONE LISZT Totentanz

2° PREMIO
non assegnato

3° PREMIO
Gumenyuk Ekaterina RUSSIA RAVEL

PREMI SPECIALI

Borsa di studio Cassa Rurale ed Artigiana di Cantù: in mancanza di un finalista in entrambe le sezioni la borsa di studio è stata assegnata alla più giovane concorrente GABRIELLE CHOU (USA) ritenuta meritevole all’unanimità dalla giuria.

Borsa di studio “Aldo Arnaboldi”: CLELIA CAFIERO quale miglior pianista italiano

Premio Lions Club: TANAKA MASAYA quale miglior esecutore del concerto di Liszt

Finalisti - Galina Chistiakova

Galina Chistiakova was born in 1987 in Moscow into a musical family. She started her piano studies at 3 years old with her mother and professor Helena Khoven. In 1993 she successfully entered The Central Music School under the Moscow Conservatory named after P. Tchaikovsky. She studied with Professor Helena Khoven and Professor Anatoly Ryabov, with whom she finished The Central Music School in 2005.

During her school years Galina won many prizes in different competitions, including the international: “The 3rd Moscow International Chopin Competition for Young Pianists” (2000); “The 7th European Chopin Competition in Darmstadt” (2002); “The 2nd International Piano Competition in Memory of Emil Gilels”, (Odessa, 2003). “The 3rd Scriabin International Piano Competition” (Moscow 2004).

In 2005 Galina entered The Moscow Conservatory and finished it in 2010 with Professor, People’s Artist of Russia Mikhail Voskresensky. Since then she has also become a prizewinner of many international competitions, among them: “A. Scriabin International Piano Competition”, (Grosseto, Italy, 2007); “Maria Callas Grand Prix 2008” (Athens, Greece); “10th Concourse Grieg – I.P.C.” (Oslo, Norway, 2009 and others. Galina has also been awarded scholarships in many foundations: “Russian Performing Art”, “V. Spivakov's foundation”, “New Names” and “A. Scriabin Association”. She has also recorded compact discs with them. She played in master class of A. Sandler, A. Bonduryansky, D. Bashkirov, P.Badura-Skoda, T. Currentzis etc.

Now she is a student of postgraduate course of Moscow conservatory (class of M.Voskresensky) and a student of International Piano Academy "Incontri col Maestro" in Imola (class of professor Boris Petrushansky)

Galina has large and various repertoire, which includes works of different style composers, from the baroque to romantic and modern periods. Except for solo, she also plays an active part in chamber music with different ensembles. The most frequent and permanent of them is a piano duet with her younger sister Irina Chistiakova.

Since 2000 Galina traveled, playing solo and with symphonic orchestras, in concerts over Russia, France, Germany, Poland, Austria, Italy, Czech, Belarus, Ukraine, Finland, Japan, Greece, Spain, Monaco, Norway. She has also performed on various TV and Radio programs. She played solo concert at the International festival “Biennale” in Greece. Galina has also been worked several times as a member of the jury at youth competitions in Russia. She is a member of A.Scriabin society in Moscow.

Finalisti - Ekaterina Gumenyuk

EKATERINA GUMENYUK
Ekaterina Gumenyuk was born 22.03.1989 at the city of Volgodonsk, Russia . From 1997 to 1999 she studied at the Music school N 1 of her town named after D. Shostakovich( teacher: Vorobyova E.A.). From 1999 to 2002 She studied at the Music school n.11 of Saint- Petersburg (teachers: Sandovskaja K.A., Polozova.M.G.). From 2003 she studies at the Special music school - liceum of Rimsky-Korsakov conservatory, Saint-Petersburg ( professor A. Sandler). She took part to important competitions such as : I Open A.D.Artobolevskaya competition for young pianists, Moscow, 1999 (III prize); IV Open P.I.Chajkovsky competition for young pianists, Saint Petersburg, 2000 (III prize ); IV International S.V.Rakhmaninov competition for young pianists, Great Novgorod, 2000 (II prize and special prize ); II International Prokofiev competition for young pianists , Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan, 2004 ( V prize ); VI International Chopin competition, Narva, Estonia, 2006 (III prize and 3 special prizes). Ekaterina Gumenyuk gave many concerts (solo and with orchestra) in France, Switzerland, Austria, Morocco, USA. She has performed with orchestra of Saint-Petersburg, (conductors: R.Martynov, A. Sladkovsky, Z. Rychert).

Finalisti - Masaya Tanaka

http://www.ac.auone-net.jp/~pianino/

Finalisti - Takashi Sato

Since winning first prize at the 70th Music Competition of Japan in 2001, Takashi Sato has been regarded as one of the most outstanding Japanese pianists of his generation. He is the youngest recipient ever of the Frédéric Chopin Society of Japan Award which was granted for the success of his debut recital in Tokyo in 2003. Takashi has also distinguished himself at several international competitions, such as ARD International Music Competition 2006 in Munich (special prize for the best interpretation of a 20th-century piano work), International Piano Competition Francis Poulenc 2006 (third prize), Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia 2008 (fourth prize and special prize for the best performance of Chopin), Concours Géza Anda 2009 in Zurich (special prize) and Queen Elisabeth Competition 2010 in Brussels (laureate). Most noteworthy among them is his victory at the 11th International Piano Competition Schubert in Dortmund 2007, establishing him as a world-class interpreter of Schubert's music.

Early on in his artistic career, Takashi was chosen to be soloist for the Tokyo Geidai Sinfonia's tour in the United Kingdom in 2003, where his charismatic performance contributed to the tour's success. He has also worked with numerous major orchestras, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Central-Aichi Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, Century Orchestra Osaka, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra, Sydney Symphony and National Orchestra of Belgium. He has been invited to perform in such countries as Japan, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Greece, Australia and Syria.

Since the solo debut CD "La Campanella: Gems of the Keyboard" (Live Notes, 2007), Takashi has issued several recordings including Schubert album (Bella Musica, 2008) and Chopin albums (Live Notes, 2009) receiving much acclaim from the Japanese and German press.

Alongside his accomplishments as soloist, he is equally appreciated as an adept chamber musician, and has collaborated with many renowned artists, such as Masafumi Hori, Nobuko Yamazaki, Yuzuko Horigome, Ryoichi Fujimori, Shunske Sato, Kyoko Yonemoto and Mayuko Kamio. A recording of Edvard Grieg's complete sonatas for violin and piano with Shunske Sato, released in 2007, was awarded Grand Prize by the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan at the 62nd National Arts Festival.

Born in Akita, Japan in 1983, Takashi Sato began piano at age of four under the guidance of Kumiko Meguro, and studied several years later with Okitaka Uehara. Between 1999 and 2006, he studied with Hitoshi Kobayashi, Katsumi Ueda and Kikuko Ogura (fortepiano) at the Tokyo Geijutsu Daigaku (Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music), as well as at its music high school division, graduating from both with top honors in 2006 and 2002 respectively. At present he is a postgraduate student at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover (Hanover University for Music and Drama), under the tutelage of Arie Vardi.

Finalisti - Scipione Sangiovanni

Si diploma in pianoforte all’età di 18 anni con il massimo dei voti, la lode e la menzione speciale sotto la guida di Mariagrazia Lioy presso il Conservatorio “Tito Schipa” di Lecce. Ha studiato musica da camera con Francesco Libetta.
Ha seguito corsi di perfezionamento con Emilia Fadini, Franco Scala, Marcello Abbado, Vincenzo Balzani, Sergio Perticaroli ed Aldo Ciccolini.
Ha vinto il 2° premio nel 19° Concorso “Camillo Togni”, il Premio speciale come migliore concorrente italiano nel 17° Concorso “Città di Cantù”, ottenendo nella successiva edizione dello stesso il terzo premio, il 2° premio nel “Mendelssohn Cup” di Taurisano, il 4° premio nel 24° “Premio Venezia”, il premio “Ginastera” nel 4° Isidor Bajic Piano Memorial di Novi Sad e il 1° premio nel 23° Concorso “Città di Marsala”. Inoltre è uno dei 24 pianisti selezionati per le fasi finali del Concorso Pianistico Internazionale “Ferruccio Busoni” di Bolzano.
Ha suonato per il “Miami International Piano Festival in Lecce”, per le “Serate Musicali” di Milano e per l’associazione “Carducci” di Como.
Nel 2005 ha registrato con Francesco Libetta presso il Teatro Paisiello di Lecce due poemi sinfonici di Liszt, attualmente sul mercato internazionale grazie alla produzione della Nireo ed alla distribuzione della VAI. Ha suonato a Taranto presso il Teatro “Orfeo”, a Lecce nell’Anfiteatro Romano, a Milano presso il Museo “Poldi Pezzoli”, a Brescia nell’Auditorium San Barnaba, a Como nella Sala Carducci, a Miami presso la Steinway Hall ed a Napoli nel Museo Archeologico Nazionale.
Attualmente studia sotto la guida di Vincenzo Balzani ed Ippazio Ponzetta presso l’Accademia Pianistica “Mendelssohn” di Taurisano.

Finalisti - Aglaia Graf

Aglaia Graf was born in Basel. At the age of 14 she became a junior student in the piano class of Adrian Oetiker at the Musikhochschule der Stadt Basel where she passed her Concert Diploma with distinction in summer 2007. Since October 2007 she has been continuing her studies in Vienna at the University of Music and Performing Arts and in Paris. Master classes with teachers such as Andràs Schiff, Paul Badura-Skoda, Klaus Hellwig, Andrzej Jasinski, Ferenc Rados, Claudio Martinez-Mehner, Alain Planès, Pietro de Maria and have deepened her musical and pianistic knowledge.

Alongside solo recitals Aglaia is a regular soloist with orchestra, performing works such as Mozart’s piano concertos K414, K415, K451 and K491, Mendelssohn’s piano concerto No. 1, Beethoven’s piano concerto Nos. 1 and 5, piano concertos Nos. 1 and 2 by Shostakovich, the concerto for 2 pianos and percussion by Bartok (in the version for orchestra), Haydn’s D Major concerto, Grieg’s piano concerto, and Chopin's piano concerto Nos. 1 and 2.

Among the orchestras with which Aglaia has performed are the Göttinger Symphony Orchestra, the Junge Philharmonie München (on a tour), the Symphony Orchestra of Basel (Mendelssohn/Grieg), the Würzburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Zhen-Zhen Symphony Orchestra (China), the British National Wind Orchestra and Grimethorpe Colliery Band (under Elgar Howarth), , the Neues Orchester Basel, the Stadtorchester Thun, the Glarner Musikkollegium, the Orchestra of the Music Academy of Basel (under Marko Letonja), the Chamber Orchestra “Arpeggione”, the Baden-Baden Youth Orchester, the Collegium Musicum Basel.

In numerous successful recitals in Switzerland, Austria (Mozarteum Salzburg), Germany and Italy (including the Festival Pontino), Poland, on a tour of China and on a tour of Japan, Aglaia has performed as the duo partner of her father, Peter-Lukas Graf. In both duo and solo performances she has astonished her audiences with her own compositions. In September 2005 she and her father recorded all the original flute sonatas of J.S. Bach for CD.

In competitions both at home and abroad Aglaia has won first prizes for solo playing and chamber music. Among others at the Basel Piano Competition in 2001, at the swiss “Jeunesse Musicale”, at “Jugend musiziert” in Germany, and at the Music Prize Schloss Waldhausen. Furthermore, Aglaia’s playing has been broadcast by various radio stations in Switzerland (DRS2) and Germany (SWR 2, WDR 3).

Aglaia has been the recipient of several awards such as the Award for Young Talent from the Radisson hotel group, the Award for Outstanding Achievement from the chemical firm Novartis, the “Prix Jeunes Artistes” of the Association of Young Artists in Thun, the Culture Prize of Binningen, and in May 2006 the now 24-year Aglaia received the European Culture Award.

In 2007 she was awarded a grant by the Lyra Foundation and for the years 2008/2009 Aglaia won the music grant of the MIGROS-Kulturprozent and the Ernst Göhner Foundation.