Last Wednesday the piano was in the spotlight at the Conservatoire de Neuchâtel, for the finale of the International Competition Piano Val de Travers. For the third edition, 50 candidates (8 to 25 years, divided into 3 categories) performed in front of an international jury.
Winners Category A
First prize: Ein Gal Lia
Second prize: Kasubaite Kleja
Third prize: Svistunova Anastasia
Diplomas: Garcia Caterina Mitsu, Kisina Sofia and Tsagareishvili Natali
Winners Category B
First prize: Fediurko Roman (Ukraine)
Second prize: not awarded
Third prize: Terletskyy Bohdan (Ukraine) and Nicolas Comi (Switzerland)
Diplomas: Grishcheva Sofia (Russia)
Special prize – concert from Unite Classics Concerts: Fediurko Roman
Special prize – invitation without pre-selection to the competition “Merci, Maestro!” 2020 with free accommodation for 2 persons in Brussels: Terletskyy Bohdan
Special PRSTP Australia prize: Dascha Klimas (Germany)
Winners Category C
First prize: Ruan Yangyang (China/USA)
Second prize: Zavadil Ondrey (Czech republic/Austria)
Third prize: not awarded
Diplomas: Bykh Yaroslav (Ukraine/Germany) and Phang Rosalind (Malaysia/Germany)
Special prize – concert engagement for festival “Week-ends du piano” Neuchâtel/CH: Ruan Yangyang (China/USA)
The members of the jury were: Ilja Scheps (Germany), Justas Dvarionas (Lithuania), Eric Schoones (The Netherlands), Tamara Kordzadze (Georgia/Switzerland), Nataliya Chepurenko and Katja Avdeeva (Switzerland). For the final round C the special guests were: Sylvain Jaccard (Switzerland), Marc Pantillon (Switzerland) and Xin Wang (Germany/China). The president of the jury was Eduardo Delgado (Argentina)
Here you can find an interview (in French) with the 22-year-old Czech Zavadil Ondrey, who was one of the finalists among the other four pianists in his category.