FINAL VIEWS FROM THE 3RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011

Pianists go sightseeing on an 

open top bus after the competition.

Ilya Rashkovskiy photographs 

his wife Kayo at Victoria Peak.

Elmar Gasanov and Tsai Min Hao

The three 1st prizewinners - Lee (2008), 

Rashkovskiy (2005) and Andaloro (2011) - 

meet with Christine Khor of the 

NUS Centre for the Arts to plan for 

next year's piano extravaganza in Singapore.

Prof. Li Mingqiang was interviewed 

by Pianomaniac last year.

Teacher and pupil. 

Peter Frankl with pianist Sheryl Lee 

(of Hong Kong's Anonymous Quartet), 

now the General Manager of Naxos.

Cristina Ortiz meets with the owners of Naxos,

 Mr & Mrs Klaus Heymann.

Cristina Ortiz poses with her 

Thai and Singaporean fans.

The HKIPC winners share a light moment 

with Vladimir Ashkenazy and Dr Anabella Freris.

A Few Words with GIUSEPPE ANDALORO, 1st Prizewinner of the 3rd Hong Kong International Piano Competition

SOME WORDS WITH 

GIUSEPPE ANDALORO 

1st Prizewinner of the 3rd Hong Kong 

International Piano Competition (2011)

It has been said that the reputation of Italian pianist Giuseppe Andaloro precedes him wherever he competed in international piano competitions. The Hong Kong International Piano Competition, for example, published its list of competitors rather late in the day, because it was feared that other pianists might have pulled out when they saw his name on the list, and felt that they did not have a ghost of a chance winning. 

A mafia hitman he certainly is not, as the Sicilian oozes a Mediterranean warmth and charm. Several years ago when I last saw him perform, I described him as looking more like a computer programmer than concert pianist, but now having beefed up and putting on some girth, looks more like the part. His dark Polliniesque curls and rimless spectacles give him a serious and thoughtful look, but it is the pianism and musicianship that still stands out.

Andaloro receives congratulations 

from the competition jury.

The Sicilian 

Giuseppe was born in Palermo, Sicily in 1982 but was brought up in the little town of Delia, near Caltanissetta. His father was a draughtsman, now retired, and mother a director in the local chamber of commerce. Both are great music lovers. He began piano lessons at eight, first under the tutelage of Adriana Mirisola and several other local teachers, and gave his first public recital playing Beethoven and Schubert just six months later in the town square for an audience of 3000! 

At nine and ten, he was already winning piano competitions, mostly first prizes, in regional towns. He was heard by several important pedagogues, and it was his teacher Paolo Pollice who advised him to study with the great Italian pianist Sergio Fiorentino, who became a major influence in his life and music making. 

Growing up in Sicily was simple and leisurely. When asked about stories about the local mafioso, his reply was direct, “I’ve seen all those Godfather movies, and it bears no resemblance with reality. In all my 30 years or so, I never saw any shooting or kidnapping! The Mafia only go for big money, and there is no big money in Sicily. You’ll find them in Milan, or maybe in competition juries!” (Hong Kong excepted, of course!)

Sergio Fiorentino the coke addict 

Giuseppe started studying with Fiorentino when he was thirteen. Lessons took place in Calabria at the “boot of Italy”, and Giuseppe and his father would travel by a combination of car and boat from the island of Sicily to the mainland, a trip that would take nine hours each way! This went on weekly or fortnightly for three years, causing him to miss much of local school and academic subjects, which he would catch up by reading and swotting during those lengthy commutes. 

He remembers Fiorentino to be very interesting, incredibly deep and extremely funny. “He was the perfect gentleman, who respected every student no matter how good or how untalented. He was never rude or negative about their playing, and was not interested in gossip. For example, he would never allow any student to speak ill about any teacher or school, and if they did so, the lesson was ended,” he explained. 

“I always remember him with a Coca-Cola in hand, and cigarette in another (his favourite were unfiltered Stop cigarettes from UK) as he taught. Sometimes he would go for ice-cream. He could never do without these! He cared more about the aesthetics and thoughts about musical performance, rather than the mechanics of playing. He taught on two pianos, demonstrating by playing any repertoire a student may be learning. If it was a concerto, he played the orchestral part perfectly and completely from memory.” 

Under his tutelage, Andaloro learnt the cornerstones of the repertoire, including Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Rachmaninov. “After the lesson, he would unwind by playing for me, for example, an entire Brahms symphony. And of course, it was from memory too!” 

After Fiorentino 

When Fiorentino died in 1998, Giuseppe was shattered and could not play the piano for several months. He resumed lessons with Vincenzo Balzani in Milan when he was 18. “Balzani was a very sensitive and sensible teacher, who helped me solve technical problems, adopt proper ways of practising and to discover new possibilities in interpretation.” With him, Giuseppe learnt the Chopin Etudes. He graduated with a Diploma for pianoforte after ten years of formal study, the first nine of which was conducted privately. He spent the tenth and final year in Milan's Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, which in any case was happy to claim him as one of its alumni.

Andaloro got his wish to perform 

a concerto with Vladimir Ashkenazy

A life in competitions 

Giuseppe won his first international piano competition in Stresa, at the age of 15. It was a small and simple competition where he played for only ten minutes; his Liszt Mephisto Waltz No.1 bagged him the 1st prize. The year 2000 saw successes in Oporto (Portugal, 1st prize), and the Italian Casagrande Competition (2nd prize with no 1st prize awarded). 2001 saw off the Casella Competition (1st prize) and the very prestigious Sendai Competition in Japan (1st prize). The latter has an interesting footnotes as the 2nd prize was won by Korea’s Jinsang Lee (we know him as the winner of the 2nd Hong Kong Competition) while the 3rd prize went to a 13-year-old Chinese girl called Yuja Wang. 

In 2002, Giuseppe won 1st prize at the London International Piano Competition, when he played Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall. This reviewer was fortunate to be present at his scene of triumph, having also enjoyed his earlier performances of Ligeti’s Etudes, a Haydn Sonata, Chopin's Fourth Scherzo and Liszt’s coruscating Twelfth Hungarian Rhapsody. 

There was the usual flurry of concert engagements, but it all dried up. “By 2004, I performed almost no concerts. Actually there was one concert, but the fee was so small, just enough to pay for a single pizza!” he recounted. In 2005, he was back on the competition circuit, but early eliminations at the Van Cliburn Competition (Fort Worth, Texas) and a competition in Spain left him despondent. The latter was particularly galling. “I thought I had performed well, and asked the Chairman of the Jury what I did wrong. His reply was, “None of us voted for you but we thought you were the best musician. So please come back next year, and I will guarantee you the first prize.” What about now? Thanks but no thanks, I told him!” (Ilya Rashkovskiy was the eventual the 1st prizewinner) 

Meanwhile, he was successfully admitted to the historic Busoni Competition in Bolzano and 1st Hong Kong International Piano Competition, but was still in a pall of depression. “I was sitting on the beach, feeling very depressed and sorry for myself. And then an old friend of mine, a chemistry professor, had some words of encouragement, and within ten minutes was totally galvanised to reboot my career. That was just eight days before the Busoni, and I went straight back home to practise." As Fate had it, Giuseppe won the 1st prize and did not make the Hong Kong date (Ilya Rashkovskiy then went on to win that too!) 

Giuseppe was done with competitions, but what brought him back into the fray after a six year hiatus? “I’ve always wanted to work with Maestro Vladimir Ashkenazy, and when I saw that he was conducting the final concerto round with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, I decided to sign up. It did not matter whether I got the 1st prize or the 6th prize.” He was directly admitted into the Second Round with a bye, which he accomplished with relative ease, and got his wish granted. As further reward for winning the 1st prize, he also gets to perform Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra at Esplanade Concert Hall under Ashkenazy’s baton on 4 November.

That 2011 performance of Rachmaninov with Vladimir Ashkenazy and the SSO may be viewed here: 

Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No 2 Giuseppe Andaloro Vladimir Ashkenazy - YouTube

Andaloro and his winner's certificate

A wide repertoire 

What concertos does Giuseppe play? He has performed all the five Beethoven piano concertos (including the full cycle over two evenings) and the Choral Fantasia, a number of Mozart concertos, Schumann, Chopin No.1, both Brahms concertos, Ravel G major and the first two concertos by Rachmaninov. He has a special love for Liszt, having won all his competitions (save Hong Kong) with either the First or Second concertos, and also recorded the four Mephisto Waltzes and the Grosses Konzertsolo on the Naxos label. He has also made a recording of baroque and renaissance works on the piano for Sony Classical. Recently he performed Shostakovich’s First Piano Concerto and Mozart K.414 with the strings of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in Trieste. 

He has an ongoing collaboration with the Italian cellist-composer Giovanni Sollima. One of their more interesting projects together is Andaloro’s own transcription of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, scored for two pianos and two cellos. Here they was joined by his wife, fellow pianist Tijana Andrejic from Serbia and Sollima’s fiancée who is also a cellist. This sounds like a lot of fun, and before long one could even catch it on youtube! 

Please visit Giuseppe Andaloro’s website at:

www.giuseppeandaloro.com

3rd Hong Kong International Piano Competition / Prize-giving Ceremony and Gala Concert

3^RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Prize-giving & Gala Concert / Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall

Monday (31 October 2011)

I won’t go into the details of the prize-giving ceremony, which are usually dreary affairs, but this one was at least given some life by the President of the Chopin Society of Hong Kong Dr Andrew Freris, who is also a legit television personality for appearing in shows about money and economic matters. He was joined by Bernie Law, another pundit whom he described as the “acceptable face of capitalism” or something to that effect. It wasn’t exactly David Letterman but at least we were spared of long and boring speeches. The prize-winners came on stage to a minimum of pomp and fuss, shook the jury’s collective hands, and then the music started.

1st prizewinner Giuseppe Andaloro accepts the congratulations from members of the jury.

Dr Anabella Freris also gets a first prize, a kiss from hubby Andrew.

Ilya Rashkovskiy, 1^st prizewinner of the 1^st HKIPC (2005) was up first with a most anti-virtuosic programme thought possible. Yet it does take a virtuoso to invest Mozart’s Rondo in D major (K.485) with a joyful, skipping lightness. He performed all the repeats, each time delighting in Mozart’s witty shifts in modes and tonality. Especially in seemingly light pieces, his propensity to surprise is a hallmark. Rashkovskiy’s crisp and clean lines also served Beethoven’s Seven Bagatelles (Op.33) to a tee. Even in these miniatures, almost wood shavings from a master’s working table, there were hints of greatness. Sometimes dancelike, sometimes lyrical, but always imbued with vitality, there was no shortage of wit and humour from Rashkovskiy’s hands. The idea that these pieces are facile is fallacious, their simplicity does not equate with simple-mindedness. Only a consummate artist can bring these off, and Ilya is just that.

After an interval, it was the turn of Jinsang Lee. The 1^st prizewinner of the 2^nd HKIPC (2008) offered more cerebral offerings. The toccata-like opening of Bach’s Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue came like the wind, articulated with a feathery lightness that suggested a harpsichord. His delivery was like an eloquent soliloquy, bringing out all the inflexions of speech to the manner born. The fugue was an epitome of clarity, and its celebration of counterpoint a crowning glory of a masterly performance. Massive octaves and chords opened Liszt’s Fantasy on B-A-C-H, where Lee’s all-encompassing mastery of sonority had the listener riveted in their seats. His flying fingers were a marvel to witness, as was the stunning accuracy at that speed. All this would not have counted if it was not matched by a probing mind behind the conception and architecture of the music. It could be said that Lee had built and capped a cathedral of sound, a mighty fortress of contrapuntal grandeur.

This uncanny thread of counterpoint continued into the recital by Giuseppe Andaloro, the newly crowned 1^st prizewinner of the 3^rd HKIPC. Beginning with Shostakovich’s Prelude and Fugue in D minor (Op.87 No.24), it was almost a history lesson on the art of the fugue. Very clean lines distinguished this reading, with the fugue’s subject heard first early into the prelude. The fugue which began simply soon built inexorably into a valedictory climax that brought to mind the titanic finale of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony (also in the same key). Andaloro closed with the fourth movement of Prokofiev’s Sixth Sonata. Here he did not choose to shock and awe with its fusillades of loud dissonance but rather to dwell on its more witty and sarcastic undertones. He flew with the music, and its many percussive bits were not hammered with brute force but rather chiselled with the skill of a Michelangelo. Andaloro showed that Prokofiev’s music was not all about violence, but rich with nuances.

That was not the end of the concert. All three pianists came together to perform the two short pieces, the Waltz and Romance, for six hands by Rachmaninov. Originally written for three young sisters, it was a curious sight to see three grown men crouching by the keyboard to tickle the ivories. Andalaro, who had earlier played Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto for the finals, was given the honour to open the Romance, which had exactly the same notes in the opening of the Andante sostenuto slow movement. The concert ended on a quiet by totally satisfying note, the joy of music had triumphed over the cut and thrust of competition. Isn’t that what music is all about?

The piano version of "The Three Tenors"

3RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION / Winners Announced

The results of the 3rd Hong Kong International Piano Competition were delivered shortly after 10.20 pm, which did not take very long to arrive. According to Chairman of the Jury Vladimir Ashkenazy, the decision was unanimous. By 10.30 pm, everybody was ready to go home, but many stayed behind to meet and greet and have their photos taken.

The final placings were as follows:

FIRST PRIZE: Giuseppe Andaloro (Italy)

SECOND PRIZE: Sato Keina (Japan)

THIRD PRIZE: Tsai Min Hao (Taiwan)

FOURTH PRIZE: Ann Soo Jung (South Korea)

FIFTH PRIZE: Elmar Gasanov (Russia)

SIXTH PRIZE: Chen Han (Taiwan)

Giuseppe Andaloro learns he has just won the 3rd HKIPC.

Even at 14 years of age, Tsai Min Hao (red and white stripes) stands out among the throng.

Prof. Li Mingqiang congratulates Andaloro as Ashkenazy looks on.

Garrick Ohlsson has some words for the winner too.

All the winners, Jinsang Lee (2008), Ilya Rashkovskiy (2005) and Giuseppe Andaloro (2011) with Vladimir Ashkenazy and Drs Andrew and Anabella Freris. Winners all!

A lovely Korean pair: Jinsang Lee and Ann Soo Jung.

Chen Han with the Boss.

Peter Frankl congratulates Sato Keina.

The winners have a victory smoke.

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011 / Finals Day 3, Part 1

HONGKONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011

Finals Day 3 (Sunday, 30 October 2011)

CHEN HAN (Taiwan)

The second of two Taiwanese boys, 19-year-old Chen Han, opened the evening with Howard Blake’s Speech after Long Silence. Playing from a score, his was a glacial account, very slow to the point of being stultifying. Soporific might be the more appropriate term, and it sounded very much like a struggle. However there was some method to this madness, as if it were a protracted rubato, making the faster passages sound more brilliant in comparison. This extreme swing in dynamics also had the uncanny effect of reminding one of Scriabin’s more frenzied pages, so it all worked out in a weird way.

Only in a piano competition will one get to hear two performances of Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto in the space of one evening. It’s either piano heaven or an overdose of romantic excess. In either case, the results can be quite exciting, as tonight proved. The first performance of Rach 3 came from Chen Han, who is studying at The Juilliard School. His was a steady and quietly confident account, as if keeping his emotions in reserve until some pivotal movement. I waited, and that moment did not occur in the first movement, which sounded for most part restrained and small scaled. The lyrical second subject was lovingly shaped, which underlined the young man’s sensitivity and sensibilities. The choice of the lighter and more scintillating cadenza was the right one, as the brooding chordal alternative would not have been appropriate here.

The slow movement’s orchestral introduction was taken a little too slowly, in fact it dragged, but Chen’s entry was excellent and it was here when his performance began to take wing and soar. The whimsical little waltz episode was brilliantly dispatched, a good prelude for the finale’s fest of prestidigitation. His fingers did not fail him for a second, and if there were a point of regret, it was he did not shape the movement’s soaring (and more vital) second with greater clarity. There were two chances for it, and he did not make the big melody happen. And there was also a tendency to rush the fences, almost leaving the orchestra in his wake. Nevertheless, this was a performance which grew in stature, and one that made a listener care about the music and the performer.

My verdict: This young man has potential and bears watching, and even if he does not win here, the experience would have been immense.

HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011 / Finals Day 3, Part 2

HONGKONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION 2011

Finals Day 3 (Sunday, 30 October 2011)

ANN SOO JUNG (South Korea)

Appearing in a stunning orange gown, the pretty young Korean is an artist who can also make heads turn in many ways than one. In my humble opinion, she gave the most beautiful account of Bake’s Speech. Even playing with a score, her conception of the work as a nocturne was breathtaking, delighting in its lyrical beauty yet revelling in its turbulence. In fact she combined the best qualities of the earlier readings in a sumptuous whole which bears repeated listening.

Her Rach 3 was to be totally different from Chen’s. While the young man was happy to go along with the flow, Ann seemed to dictate the pace and proceedings. She had better sound projection and articulation, and one could sense her going for broke even at an early stage. Although always conscious of making a beautiful sound, the risk-taking had its drawbacks, the number of lapses and flurry of wrong notes was to dog the performance, most notably in the opening movement. Like Chen, she played the shorter mercurial cadenza, even though she might have succeeded with the bigger-boned one. Perhaps it was a case of damage limitation.

The second movement worked much better for her, and it was sheer delight through its rapturous pages, and the ensuing rush into the hectic finale. One has to feel for her as not all the notes were there for the Alla breve finale, and there was an uneasy sense of an accident waiting to happen. However she delivered the big melody well, on both occasions, as the performance worked to a heady conclusion. Here she gave her best shot, and even if this was not to be her day, it was an admirable effort. Her conception and view of the music and its trajectory was close to perfect, it was the execution which fell short.

My verdict: A very musical if flawed account of Rach 3 may have put paid to her chances of a top three finish. Would still definitely want to hear her again.

Having not heard the earlier rounds, I hazard to make any predictions of the final placings, lest one gets egg splattered on the face. However based on the showings in the concerto finals, my choices were as follows:

Winner (Numero Uno): Giuseppe Andaloro

Most raw potential: Tsai Min Hao

Best performance of Blake: Ann Soo Jung

3rd International Hong Kong International Piano Competition / People Watching and Behind the Scenes

The audience waiting at 

HK City Hall Concert Hall.

Pianists Ann Soo Jung and Colleen Lee 

(finalist in the 2005 competition) 

with family and friends.

Tsai Min Hao now looks like a 14-year-old, 

with his teacher Lin Yiling (right) & Christine Khor, 

Director of the National University of 

Singapore Centre for the Arts (left).

Almost the LCO Quartet: Violinist Magnus Johnston, 

cellist Pierre Doumenge and violist Louise Williams 

(violinist Andrew Haveron was serving 

as concertmaster in the orchestra).

Hong Kong celebrity pianist 

KJ Wong (right) with his admirers.

Piano technician extraordinaire Yoshi Nishimura 

travelled from Hawaii to look after the 

competition's four grand pianos.

A segment of the audience.

French pianist Pascal Rogé 

obliges with an autograph.

Dr Andrew Freris speaks... 

which means the concert is about to begin.

Hong Kong International Piano Competition 2011 / Finals Day 2, Part 1

3RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Finals Day 2, Saturday 29 October 2011

TSAI MIN HAO (Taiwan)

Much had been said about the sheer prodigiousness of the 14-year old Tsai Min Hao from Taiwan, but nothing quite prepared me for the sight of one so full of self-confidence and poise. The way he bestrode the stage as if he owned it could be attributed less to chutzpah than to the fact he has yet to learn about anything as mundane as nerves or stage fright. The sparkles in his hair and the pin-striped suit were also part of an extroverted personality.

Of course he performed Howard Blake’s Long Speech After Silence from memory. The wonder about musical interpretation is that a given piece can be made to sound so different in the hands of different artists. Young Tsai is probably familiar with the sounds of New Age piano, film music and popular idioms, and his view reflected that slant. Sometimes dirge-like, he wallowed in pregnant silences, slowing the music down to savour its fragrances and even ponder on the facts of life. Then, within a twinkling of an eye he brought it to a spectacular climax before closing emphatically. It was very different from last night’s performances, but equally valid.

Tsai again revealed absolutely no nerves in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. His entry after a long tutti was emphatic, truly making up one sit up and listen. Clearly and meticulously articulated, he made every note count. Yet there was none of that young or youthful exuberance about his reading, and no concessions need to be made on account of his age. There was both subtlety and flexibility in his conception, making one wonder if he were 24 or 34, rather than merely 14. In 1997, the year he was born, Hong Kong was handed over to the Chinese. Lan Shui had just been appointed Music Director of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and I had just written my very first Straits Times music review. Hardly ancient history.

Having said that, Tsai will have to learn to give up his excess bodily movements, head shakes, rolling of eyes and side glances into the audience. He certainly reminded one of a young Lang Lang before it all went to his head. The slow movement also benefited from a rapt understanding of the music, so graceful that one will easily forgive a wrongly placed chord that showed he was human after all. Some less than subtle brass playing near the end was irksome, but that soon dissipated with the Rondo finale which was a joyous ride from start to finish. Here being young was an asset, as the music sparkled with Tsai’s imaginative prestidigitation. His timing was spot-on, synchronising those runs perfectly with the orchestra’s phrases, bringing on plenty of smiles from an energised Vladimir Ashkenazy on the podium (I was seated close enough to see and sense the body and facial language of those onstage). Both pianist and conductor were clearly enjoying themselves, and should that not be the raison d’etre of all musical activity?

My verdict: Tsai is a name to watch. He has talent to burn and time is on his side. He might just be the second coming of Lang Lang.

Hong Kong International Piano Competition 2011 / Finals Day 2, Part 2

3RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION

Finals Day 2 (Saturday 29 October 2011), Part 2

SATO KEINA (Japan)

Sato Keina is a serious looking young Japanese lady for whom a hint of a smile might even seem a tad too forward. Her maroon evening gown is elegant and understated. She performed the Blake with the score as safety net, when she need not have. Using the sustaining pedal a little more than the others, she achieved an impressionistic glow to her performance, again sounding different from the other versions we have heard. First it began Debussy-like, and later with the onset of chimes and bells, the dissonances were highlighted and it gradually morphed to sound like the ecstatic pages of Messiaen. Again it was different, and a lady friend seated next to me commented on Sato’s “feminine mystique”. I think she hit the nail on the head.

Her Beethoven Third Piano Concerto was also different from Tsai’s. First it sounded more urgent and serious, and she had none of the youngster’s extraneous gestures. Fact: at 27, she is almost double his age. One could also feel a more mature and subtler mind at work, but could apply power and voltage when the need arose. On her debit side, her performance was less clean, having flubbed some of the arpeggio runs in the first movement cadenza. Here she appeared a little vulnerable alongside Tsai’s rock-steady confidence.

I however preferred her view of the slow movement, which had a reverential air besides the requisite poetic beauty. Yet there was a sense of world weariness and fragility that coloured the reading, and a missed note and French horn raspberry seemed to underline that fallibility. The concluding Rondo had a nervous edge that was missing in the young man’s performance, with an emphasis on clearer accents and contours. Much as both pianist and orchestra tried, those moments at the end of the pianist’s dazzling runs which coincided with orchestral cadences did not come off cleanly. It would have been the equivalent of catching lightning in a bottle had those split-second decisions clicked. Conductor Ashkenazy knew it, but he smiled nonetheless. A slightly grim–faced view turned to pure joy from the coda to the final page, and that itself was worthy of good cheer.

My verdict: A more mature but less clean vista of already familiar music. Sato’s self-effacing and embarrassed look summed up her outing. Tsai’s youth and confidence has the edge.

3RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITION / People Watching and Behind the Scenes

An orderly line forms as the audience awaits entry into Hong Kong's City Hall Concert Hall for the finals of the 3rd Hong Kong International Piano Competition.

Young Taiwanese pianist Tsai Min Hao, only 14 years of age, meets with his adoring fans, mostly consisting of "aunties".

Ilya Rashkovskiy, 1st prize winner of the 1st Hong Kong IPC in 2005, and his wife Kayo Ueda have just celebrated their 3rd wedding anniversary.

Italian pianist Giuseppe Andaloro has his own legion of fans.

Top piano pedagogues of Hong Kong and Malaysia, Eleanor Wong and Snezana Panovska, and their significant others, Sun Sun and Milan.

You're not a significant piano competition unless Dr Gustav Alink (centre), guru of the world's piano concours, attends. He is flanked by John Roos (Pretoria, South Africa) and Jinsang Lee, 1st Prizewinner of the 2nd Hong Kong International Piano Competition in 2008.