Julliard School Recital Winners of the 2017 Piano Competition-Two Immensely Talented Artists

Last night Julliard presented the two winners of the 2017 Gina Bachauer Piano Competition.  They performed for a packed auditorium of admiring guests.  Chaeyoung Park (b Korea) was first to perform.  She received a silver medal in the 2016 competition & a gold medal from the Nat'l YoungArts Fdtn in 2014.  In 2012, she was the youngest finalist in the Emilio Del Rosa Int'l Young Artists Piano Competition.  Her playing is sublime.  Park played Bach's Prelude in B Minor and Bartok's Out of Doors.  This was an interesting pairing.  Bach's piece demonstrated her nuanced musicality & the Bartok, a strong forte revealing an expressive, accentuated playing style.  The lovely Park wore a simple but stunning white jump suite with her hair pulled back in a long pony-tail.  I mention her shimmering appearance because if listening with your eyes closed, you would be hard pressed not to assume you're hearing a world renown recording artist.  No doubt, Ms. Park's virtuosity is limitless and her future in music, boundless.  My congratulations to Ms. Park who is staying for her BM at Julliard.  The 2nd recipient of last night's award ceremony/performance was Yun-Chin Zhou (b China). In 2013, Zhou won 1st prize at the Young Concert Artists Int'l Auditions & 1st prize in the Bachauer competition.  Zhou performed Liszt's Reminiscences de Norma, a very demanding & daunting piece. Mr. Zhou was dressed in a smart suit, tie & pocket-chief.  These two artists take their music seriously & simultaneously bring a joyous ebullience to their music.  Zhou is in the MM program at Julliard.  I compare his playing to Vladimir Horowitz.  Ms Park & Mr Zhou performed a duet of William Bolcom's (b Amer 1938) Recuerdos for two pianos (1991).  This was an interesting choice in the program.  It had a mix of ragtime and classical.  The individual pieces were both very different & the melding of the 2 melodies was astonishing.  The two artists shared a warm embrace following their duet to uproarious applause.  An Award from the McGraw Family Fdtn was presented to fellow Julliard student violinist Ariel Horowitz.  Ms Horowitz spoke of the unifying humanity wrought through music & of her summer experience bringing music lessons to young people on a Navajo Indian Reservations.  Last nights' concert was recorded for broadcast on Wed., Oct. 4th at 9 PM. I will be listening again and I encourage everyone to listen in on a special program of extremely talented & admirable young artists.  You won't have to close your eyes but don't be surprised at the level of playing you will hear from both Ms Park & Mr Zhou.