Cincinnati’s World Piano Competition, an annual classical piano competition featuring top performers from across the globe since 1956, welcomes 24 competitors from seven different countries from June 23 – 28. At stake is over $45,000 in prize money and a debut recital in New York. Before the festivities begin, the competitors are granted 15 minutes each in CCM’s Corbett Auditorium to play the Concert & Artist Steinways and select which instrument they will use for the competition. Public events begin on June 22 with the Draw Party: competitors each randomly select a number to determine the order in which they play throughout the competition. On June 24, the 24 competitors will be cut down to six, and then those six to three on June 26. The three finalists will compete for medals and prize money on June 28 during the Final Round, performing a full concerto with the internationally acclaimed Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the baton of conductor, pianist and “really good cook” William Eddins. The competition takes place at the renowned University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Audience members will be excited to hear a few returnee competitors, including 2013 Audience Favorite Reed Tetzloff, and Anastasiya Naplekova, Hanqing Chang and Jiuming Shen. The jury this year also includes returnees Frederic Chiu and Ursula Oppens, along with Hee Sung Joo, Yoshikazu Nagai and Andrey Pisarev. Famed pianist and chair of piano at CCM, Awadagin Pratt, serves as the competition’s artistic director.
Last year the competition underwent an expansion with two exciting new collaborations and instituting a variety of changes aimed at enhancing the quality of the event and making Cincinnati a truly world-class destination for classical piano performance. Primary among the changes at the re-imagined Competition, already a highly respected event, are partnerships with two of the city’s cultural cornerstones – the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), an all-Steinway school.
CCM’s Art of the Piano festival (June 27 – July 12) will run concurrently with the World Piano Competition, offering a rare opportunity to hear some of the jury members in recital and bringing the world’s most sought-after piano teachers and artists together with up-and-coming performers from around the world.
This year marks the World Piano Competition’s 58th are available at the CSO Box Office at Music Hall, or by calling 513-381-3300. season. Tickets, starting at $15 for the first rounds,
World Piano Competition 2014 Schedule of Events
Location: Corbett Auditorium, CCM Village, University of Cincinnati
Monday, June 23, 9:00 a.m. – 9:10 p.m.: First Rounds
Tuesday, June 24, 9:00 a.m. – 9:10 p.m.: First Rounds*
Wednesday, June 25, 7:00 p.m.: Semifinal Rounds
Thursday, June 26, 7:00 p.m.: Semifinal Rounds*
Saturday, June 28, 7:00 p.m.: Final Rounds with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
*Cuts announced following the final performance
Purchasing Tickets:
$30 All-Access Pass to First Rounds & Semifinals, $15 One Day Pass, $11.25 Group One Day Pass, $10
Student. Tickets for the final rounds are reserved seating starting at $35. Purchase tickets to all World
Piano Competition Events through the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra website at www.cincinnatisymphony.org or by calling the CSO box office at 513-381-3300.
Tickets available for the Draw Party and other 2014 special events through the CSO Box Office starting May 21, 2014.
William Eddins, final round conductor
William Eddins is the Music Director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and a frequent guest conductor of major orchestras throughout the world. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland) from 2001 to 2006.
Engagements have included the New York Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of San Francisco, Minnesota, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Houston, as well as the Los Angeles and Buffalo Philharmonics.
Internationally, Mr. Eddins has conducted the Berlin Staatskapelle, Berlin Radio Orchestra, Welsh National Opera, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (Australia), Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, and the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra. He recently led the Natal Philharmonic on tour of South Africa with soprano Renee Fleming.
As Music Director, he led the Edmonton Symphony Orchestras in a 2012 Carnegie Hall concert as part of the Spring for Music Festival. Other recent highlights include conducting the RAI Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale on Italian television and leading Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess with Opera de Lyon. In 2015 he will conduct Porgy and Bess at the Spoleto Festival as well as Mozart’s Magic Flute with the Edmonton Mr. Eddins is an accomplished pianist and chamber musician. He regularly play-conducts from the piano in works by Mozart, Beethoven, Gershwin and Ravel. He has released a recording on his own label that includes Beethoven’s Hammer-Klavier Sonata and William Albright’s The Nightmare Fantasy Rag.
Mr. Eddins has performed at the Ravinia Festival with both the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Ravinia Festival Orchestra. He has also conducted the orchestras of the Aspen Music Festival, the Hollywood Bowl, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. A native of Buffalo, NY, (born in December 1964) Mr. Eddins attended the Eastman School of Music, studying with David Effron and graduating at age eighteen, making him the youngest graduate in the history of the institution. Previous positions include Resident Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra.
