Eight young Vietnamese
pianists will be competing against 140 others at the First International
Chopin Piano tournament from tomorrow to Sunday in Singapore.
The competition, which commemorates the 200th
anniversary of Chopin's birth, is being organised by the Chopin Society
(Singapore) and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts.
The Vietnamese pianists, who are aged between 10 to 16, will be competing in four of five categories.
Do Hoang Linh Chi, 13, and Hoang Ho Thu, 15, have a lot
of experience of international competition, said Ta Quang Dong, a
lecturer at the Viet Nam National Academy of Music, who will be
accompanying the competitors.
"The contestants can decide for themselves which Chopin
pieces they wish to play. The Ha Noi International Piano Contest that
was held last September helped the contestants enrich their Chopin
repertoire," Dong said.
"The competition is being organised for the first time. It is prestigious though because of the calibre judges."
The judging panel consists of Gabriel Kwok, who has
been head of Keyboard Studies at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing
Arts since 1989; Francesco Nicolosi, who is one of the most
distinguished pianists of the Italian tradition; Snezana Panovska, a
highly acclaimed piano professor, who stems from the Republic of
Macedonia; Wojciech Switata, a professor at the Karol Szymanowski
Academy of Music in Katowice; and Warren Thompson, head of the School of
Extension Studies at Sydney Conservatorium.
(VNS)