FINALLY, THE ACTUAL SIPCA AWARDS 2008

No time or place for jokes now, for here are the real awards for the Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia 2008, as read by Artistic Director and Chairman of the Jury Warren Thomson at the Sydney Opera House this Sunday evening (forget the Saturday listed on the date of entry, as that is USA time).

6th Place: ERIC ZUBER, $2500
5th Place: TOMOKI KITAMURA, $2500 (why not $3000?)
4th Place: TAKASHI SATO, $4000
3rd Place: RAN DANK, $6000
2nd Place: TATIANA KOLESOVA $12,000
1st Place:: KONSTANTIN SHAMRAY, $25,000

String Quartet prize: KONSTANTIN SHAMRAY, $10,250
Best Liszt (excluding Studies): ERIC ZUBER, $7000
Best Ozzie pianist: HOANG PHAM, $5000
Best performance of Australian Work (Stage III): TOMOKI KITAMURA, $5000
Best Mozart concerto: KONSTANTIN SHAMRAY, $5000
People’s Choice: KONSTANTIN SHAMRAY, $5000
Best 19th or 20th century concerto: KONSTANTIN SHAMRAY, $5000
Best Beethoven: KONSTANTIN SHAMRAY, $5000
Best Chopin: TAKASHI SATO, $5000
Best Liszt study (Stage I): CHARLIE ALBRIGHT, $5000
SSO Prize for best concertos: RAN DANK, $5000
Best Rachmaninov: RAN DANK, $5000
Best chamber music: TATIANA KOLESOVA, $5000
Best Mozart (except concertos): KONSTANTIN SHAMRAY, $3000
Best Schubert: TOMOKI KITAMURA, $3000
Best Debussy Prelude (Stage III): RAN DANK, $3000
Best Russian work: TATIANA KOLESOVA, $3000
Best pianist not selected for Semi-finals: ALEXEI YEMTSOV, $2000
Best Romantic work: YOONSOO RHEE, $2000
Best Haydn: YOONSOO RHEE, $2000
Best pianists not selected for Quarter-finals: FENG ZHANG, $1500
Best virtuoso study (Stage I): DANIIL TSVETKOV, $1500
Best pianist not selected for Finals: MARIANGELA VACATELLO, $1500
The other “semi-finalists”: HOANG PHAM, CHARLIE ALBRIGHT,
YOONSOO RHEE, MIYEON LEE, DANIIL TSVETKOV,
MARIANGELA VACATELLO, $750 each
Youngest finalist: TOMOKI KITAMURA, $1000
Best female pianist: TATIANA KOLESOVA, $1000
Youngest Australian: HOANG PHAM, $1000

FINAL PLACINGS
BASED ON PRIZE MONEY:
1. $ 58,250 KONSTANTIN SHAMRAY
2. $ 21,000 TATIANA KOLESOVA
3. $ 19,000 RAN DANK
4. $ 11,500 TOMOKI KITAMURA
5. $ 9,500 ERIC ZUBER
6. $ 9,000 TAKASHI SATO
7. $ 6,750 HOANG PHAM
8. $ 5,750 CHARLIE ALBRIGHT
9. $ 4,750 YOONSOO RHEE
10. $ 2,250 MARIANGELA VACATELLO
11. $ 2,250 DANIIL TSVETKOV
12. $ 2,000 ALEXEY YEMTSOV
13. $ 1,500 FENG ZHANG
14. $ 750 MIYEON LEE

So this is how the bounty was divided between 14 pianists – all 6 finalists, 6 semi-finalists, one quarter-finalist and one pianist who did not get beyond Stage II. Looks like Shamray’s going to make his Singapore debut soon – good on him. Also note how the “special prizes” tended to skew the booty – both the 6th and 5th prizewinners landed with more cash than the 4th prizewinner! Or the fact that one pianist eliminated after Stage II (Feng Zhang) was better rewarded by the factor of two than one semi-finalist (Miyeon Lee), and seven quarter finalists!

For the first time in SIPCA history, the winner of the Audience Prize was not also awarded the Kiss of Death “Anything But First” Prize. So eat your heart out, Olivier Cazal!