SEMI-FINALISTS at Leeds International Piano Competition 2009 announced

The 12 semi-finalists of the Leeds International Piano Competition 2009 have been announced. They are (in order of performance):

CHERNOV, Alexey (Russia)

MOSER, Benjamin (Germany)

KADOUCH, David (France)

GORLATCH, Alexej (Ukraine)

JIA, Julian (China)

SCHIMPF, Alexander (Germany)

HU, Ching Yun (Taiwan)

TAVERNA, Alessandro (Italy)

TITOVA, Kateryna (Ukraine)

KONG, Jianing (China)

CHEUNG, Rachel (Hong Kong)

GULYAK, Sofya (Russia)

Interesting line-up, no Asian dominance this time (unlike 2006 with 5 pianists of Asian ancestry out of 6 finalists!). Its the Russians versus the Ukrainians, the Chinese versus Taiwan /Hong Kong, and four Continentals. No Brits (again!) nor Americans. There are two 17-year-olds, Julian Jia (China) and Rachel Cheung (Hong Kong).

Piano Concertos

The piano concertos to be performed at the finals are:

BEETHOVEN No.5 - 3 pianists (Gorlatch, Kadouch & Kong)

RACHMANINOV No.2 - 3 pianists (Cheung, Hu & Titova)

TCHAIKOVSKY No.1 - 2 pianists (Jia & Moser)

BRAHMS No.1 - 1 pianist (Gulyak)

CHOPIN No.1 - 1 pianist (Taverna)

RACHMANINOV No.3 - 1 pianist (Chernov)

SCHUMANN - 1 pianist (Schimpf)

So there remains a possibility that 6 different piano concertos be performed (as in 2006) come next weekend.

Strange but true: NOT A SINGLE NOTE OF CHOPIN was performed in the Semi-finals, Finals and Gala Concert of the 2006 Leeds International Piano Competition.