GINA BACHAUER INTERNATIONAL YOUNG ARTISTS PIANO COMPETITION, final round, Saturday, June 23, 7 p.m., Abravanel Hall.
After a grueling week of competition, the results are finally in for this year's Gina Bachauer International Young Artists Piano Competition.
At the end of Saturday's final round in Abravanel Hall, 17-year-old Kyu-Yeon Kim from Korea took home the gold medal. Silver went to 18-year-old Alex McDonald from the United States, and bronze was awarded to China's Hong Xu, 17.
Fourth through sixth place went to 16-year-old Xin Jia (China), 18-year-old Jun Asai (United States) and 17-year-old Tzu-Yi Chen (Taiwan) respectively.
For the finals, each contestant had to play the first movement of a concerto of his or her choosing. They were accompanied by the Utah Symphony under the baton of guest conductor Neal Stulberg.
The eight judges at this year's competition are all previous Bachauer gold medal winners: Douglas Humpherys, Arthur Greene, Duane Hulbert, Michael Gurt, Alec Chien, Xiang-dong Kong, Gail Niwa and Lori Sims. They had the unenviable duty of placing the six finalists, and it must be said they did a commendable job.
The top three winners were all amazing Saturday evening. Kim, who played Tchaikovsky's B flat minor concerto to capture first prize, was absolutely stunning. She gave a vivid and animated performance of this beloved work. Kim is a powerful pianist, and she put that to good use in the concerto's opening movement. Her interpretation was charged with unbridled intensity and fiery passion. And yet her performance was surprisingly nuanced and balanced, and possessed dimension and depth.
McDonald is a wonderful pianist and he put passion and fire into his performance of Liszt's A major concerto. Particularly delightful was his duet with the symphony's principal cellist Ryan Selberg.
Curiously, Xu put a somewhat unique and interesting twist on his interpretation of Liszt's popular E flat major concerto.
Of the three other finalists, Jia and Asai also performed Tchaikovsky's concerto, while Chen played Grieg's A minor concerto.
The audience members who attended part or all of the competition this past week were richly rewarded. They were witness to some remarkable piano playing. It hardly seems possible, but the performance standard at the Bachauer competition, regardless of the age level, keeps getting better and better each year. This should be enough to whet anyone's appetite, and curiosity about next year's artists competition (for pianists between the ages of 19 and 32). The Bachauer is an event that's not to be missed.
E-mail: ereichel@desnews.com