Alma Hoy Cristobal, president and CEO of Lyric Piano and Organ Corporation, which distributes Steinway pianos in the country, announces the finalists of the First National Steinway Piano Competition, which will be held on March 25, at 3 p.m.
Venue is the Lyric Piano Gallery, Florentina Building on 80 Main Horseshoe Drive and N. Domingo St. in New Manila, Quezon City.
The finalists and their teachers are: Danica Mae D. Antazo (professor Pia Margarita Diño Balasico); Chance Elan C. Israel (Carmencita Arambulo); Lorenzo B. Medel (Mauricia Borromeo); and Kao Sugata (Cecile B. Roxas).
They will play on a brand-new Steinway Model B, a three-fourth grand.
The board of jurors is composed of Olivier Ochanine, principal conductor of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra; concert pianists Carmen D. Padilla and Ingrid Sala Santamaria.
The sole winner of the tilt will compete with other winners in the Asian region who will come from Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore on July 27-29, at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music in Singapore.
Lyric Piano and Organ Corporation will shoulder the transportation fare and accommodation of the sole winner to Singapore.
The grand-prize winner in the Singapore tilt will proceed to Hamburg, Germany, and participate in a concert alongside winners from the European nation, as a participant to the biennial Steinway International Festival sponsored by Steinway and Sons.
The second prize and third prize winners will get SG$1,000 and SG$ 500, respectively.
The jury in the Singapore tilt is composed of Bela Siki (US); Caio Pagano (US); and Eleanor Wong (Hong Kong).
Contestants are required to render a 20-minute solo-piano program played from memory from three contrasting stylistic periods. The program must include the first movement from any sonata by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Clementi or Schubert.
Individual movements from other works are acceptable for the two remaining “free choice” selections, but no transcriptions or concerti will be permitted.
Cristobal says the holding of the competition is Lyric Piano’s contribution in support of Steinway and Sons program aimed at “identifying, encouraging and promoting young pianists in the formative stages in their careers.”
Limited seats will be made available to the public for free on a first-come, first-served basis. Call 7268074 and 4114376 and ask for Ida.