George Enescu Festival 2011 online

George Enescu Festival 2011: Magic Exists and starts tomorrow

George Enescu Festival 2011: prestigious european classical music event

Started on September 3, the George Enescu International Competition closed on September 11 with an online concert Gala in Bucharest, Romania. China and South Korea won best prizes.

The competition had as jury members personalities from US, Japan, UK, Germany, France, Romania, Russia, Spain, Austria, Poland, Korea, Sweden, Finland, Italy, under the leadership of Ioan Holender.

George Enescu International Competition gathered 183 competitors: 55 at Piano, 51 at Violin, 45 at Cello, and 32 works at Composition.

The Grand Award of the The International Competition “George Enescu” went to Cello Section.

Tian Bonian won the Grand Prize at Cello Section of George Enescu International Competition

Tian Bonian (China) was awarded with first prize (the grand award), Valentin Răduţiu (Romania) won the second prize and Michal Korman (Israel) third.

All three cellists interpreted Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor.

” Every cellist is happy with scores like these as they allow you while playing to enjoy the music, which is, in fact, the most important aspect,” said  Bonian when he qualified for semi-final.

“… for me  most important is the music to reach the audience… while I was performing I wasn’t thinking to win the first prize, I was thinking to communicate with the public,” said Tian Bonian at the end of the competition.

Bonian, born in 1986 in Shenyang, won First Prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Xiamen, China (2002) and First Prize at the Davidov International Competition in Latvia (2006) . He attended the Schleswig-Holstein Festival and toured Germany for Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now. He gave recitals in a private audience for Queen Margrethe of Denmark and performed concerts as a soloist with orchestras and chamber music ensembles in Canada, Denmark, Germany, Korea, China and Switzerland.

Valentin Răduţiu, as best ranked Romanian, won a prize from Liliana and Peter Ilica Foundation for the Endowment of the Arts and another one from Musicians Performers Union in Romania.

 Lee Yeong-Kwang (South Korea) won a special prize as the youngest competitor.

At the Violin Section of George Enescu International Competition first prize was not awarded.

Szalai Antal won best performance of George Enescu's Sonata

Second prize went ex aequo to Kayayzan Haik and Alexandra Conunova (Republic of Moldova), and third to Szalai Antal (Hungary).

Szalai Antal was also awarded for the best performance of George Enescu’s Sonata (Violin Sonata No. 3 in A minor dans le caractère populaire roumain).

At the Piano Section of George Enescu International Competition first prize was also not awarded.

Jeung Beum Sohn (Korea) won second prize, and the third was ex aequo granted to Ilya Poletaev (Canada) and Mihai Ritivoiu (Romania). Ritivoiu performed Rachmaninov’s Concerto No. 2 in C minor, while Sohn and Poletaev interpreted Brahms’ Concerto No.1 in D minor.

At the Composition Section of George Enescu International Competition the jury awarded South Korea.

At the Chamber Music (ex-aequo):  Kwang – Ho (Garnio) Cho with Cytisus/A-Phonie, and Mihyun Woo  with The Play of Light for String Quartet.

At the Symphonic Music the award went to Chang Eunho for The Human (symphonic poem).

The first prize is 15,000 euros, the second 10,000, the third 5,000, the prize for symphonic music 10,000 euros, for chamber music 7,000  and the prize for best performance of George Enescu’s Sonata 6,000 euros.

George Enescu International Competition is a part of George Enescu International Festival, a biennial event started in 1958 to honor the Romanian composer’s legacy. George Enescu Festival 2011 ends on September 25.

[youtube JyrazSP5WA8]