On Saturday closed solemnly the Aarhus International Piano Competition 2017.
The closing concert took place at the Symphonic hall of the Musikhuset Aarhus and was sold out. The spirited moderator led through the orchestral round of 4 finalists with the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra as well as through 3 concerts of the younger prize winners.
It was a special competition in the European Capital of Culture 2017: 39 competitors from literally all over the world met in Aarhus for the 4th edition of the Aarhus International Piano Competition. But for the first time in the history of this Danish competition, a Danish national arrived at the final round and went out of it showered with prizes: Gustav Piekut received the 2nd prize of the older Category B, the EMCY Prize, the Carl Nielsen and the audience prize.
But not only for him it was a successful evening: The other prize winners of Category B (16 to 21 years) are:
1st prize: Rafael Kyrychenko, Portugal
2nd prize: Gustav Piekut, Denmark
3rd prize: Girim Choi, South Korea
4th prize: Natalie Schwamová, Czech Republic
At Category A (11 to 15 years) North America and Asia were strongly represented with successful candidates:
1st prize: Kyle Hu, USA
2nd prize: Hao Wei Lin, Taiwan
3rd prize: Jun Li Bui, Canada
Carl Nielsen prize: Jun Li Bui, Canada
A Gift from The Competition: to all participants was offered a professional portrait photo by the professional photographer Tom McKenzie. The pianists may use the picture for PR purposes in the future.The Aarhus International Piano Competition is not a competition where the winner takes all. During the entire competition, the young pianists who didn´t reach the next round played concerts all over Denmark. Every day the organizing team took them to different concert halls, where excited audiences awaited them. The last of these concerts was given at Dokk1 in Aarhus, a creative place and library, where the pianists played for a mixed and very attentive audience. All rounds were live broadcasted and the competition was followed by a numerous audience online and in the hall and the organisers invited schools kids and art lovers alike to this exciting event.
