Tuesday 20 March 2012

Sydney International Piano Competition 2012: 36 Pianists Named

The 36 pianists for the 2012 Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia, to be held from 4 to 21 July, have been named. They are:

Arta Arnicane (Latvia)
Aleksandra Beliakovich (Belarus)
Mikhail Berestnev (Russia)
Feng Bian (China)
Giulio Biddau (Italy)
Wei Cao (China)
Stefan Cassomenos (Greece)
Anzhelika Fuchs (Ukraine)
Tanya Gabrielian (USA)
James Guan (Australia)
Stefano Guarascio (Italy)
Atsushi Imada (Japan)
Maya Irgalina (Belarus)
Elizaveta Ivanova (Russia)
Wen-bin Jin (China)
Joanne Kang (Australia)
Nikolay Khozyainov (Russia)
Jin-Hong Li (China)
Brian Yuebing Lin (China)
Ke Lin (China)
Aaron Liu (Australia)
Ilaria Loatelli (Italy)
Dmytri Onyshchenko (Ukraine)
Olga Paliy (Ukraine)
Marios Panteladis (Greece)
Poom Prommachart (Thailand)
Alex Raineri (Australia)
Lu Shen (China)
Yifan Sun (China)
BenoƮt Tourette (France)
Sean Yeh (USA)
Jung-Yeon Yim (Korea)
Qian Yong (China)
Tomoaki Yoshida (Japan)
Avan Yu (Canada)
Hao Zhu (China)


171 pianists had taken part in the auditions held in 12 cities worldwide. It is interesting to note that since this competition started in 1977, the first prize winners have been either from a Russian-speaking nation or an ethnic Chinese. With 9 pianists from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Latvia, and 15 ethnic Chinese pianists (from China, Australia, Canada, USA and Thailand), this unusual trend looks likely to continue.

Southeast Asia's sole representative is Poom Prommachart from Thailand, who performed so admirably in the auditions in Singapore on 25 January. From that same audition group, Wan Jing Jing of China has been named one of the five substitutes on standby. So Pianomania's predictions had come true!

Three of the 36 pianists are returnees. Arta Arnicane (far left) was a semi-finalist from the 2004 competition, while Elizaveta Ivanova and Zhu Hao had played in the 2008 competition. Better fortunes, this time!

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