George Enescu International Competition Bucharest

13 young pianists qualified for the second round of the Piano Section in 2020

Bucharest, September 16, 2020

PRESS RELEASE

13 Young Pianists Qualified for the Second Round of the Piano Section in 2020  Enescu Competition

Thirteen young pianists representing 8 countries, out of the 55 competitors who participated in the First Round, received the most votes from the Jury and advanced to the Second Round of the Piano Section in the 2020 George Enescu International Competition: Jack Campbell (United Kingdom), Salih Can Gevrek (Turkey), Anna Grot (Russia), Kang Tae Kim (South Korea), Nikolai Kuznetsov (Russia), Hoyel Lee (South Korea), Adela Liculescu (Romania), Yeon-Min Park (South Korea), Djordje Radevski(Serbia), George Todica (Romania), Chun Lam U (Hong Kong), Marcin Wieczorek (Poland) and Feiyang Xu (China).

The First Round of the 2020 George Enescu International Competition’s Piano Section was held online between September 11 and 15. The results were announced by the President of the Jury in a video posted on the Competition’s website on Wednesday, September 16. The international jury of the 2020 Enescu Piano Competition is led by Cristina Ortiz and comprised of Dana Borșan, Hyoung-Joon Chang, Philippe Dinkel, Peter Jablonski, Andrei Pisarev, Roland Pöntinen, Josu de Solaun, and Zhe Tang.

In the announcement published on the Competition’s website, Cristina Ortiz, President of the Piano Jury and laureate of the 1967 Enescu Competition, declared: “Firstly, I'd like to congratulate all competitors for their courage and resilience in preparing and finding ways to record their audition during these most unusual circumstances. Your commitment to music is very humbling. Then I would like to thank my colleagues in the Jury, for it’s not easy to pick only a few from 55 very talented pianists. But choose we must. Instead of 12, we’ve decided that 13 candidateswill go through to the Second Round. Until we meet in Bucharest next May, please be well and keep safe.

The Second Round (eliminatory) of the Enescu Piano Competition will run between September 17 and 19. The recordings will be available for the general public on the Competition’s website https://www.festivalenescu.ro/en/ starting on September 17, 7:00 AM GMT |10:00 AM EEST (Romania). The results of the Second Round will be announced by the President of the Jury on the Competition’s website on September 20, 2020, at 5:00 PM GMT | 8:00 PM EEST (Romania).

The competitors who qualify in the Second Round will participate in the Semifinal of the Piano Competition, which will take place on May 21, 2021, at the Romanian Athenaeum, in Bucharest. The Piano Final will take place on Sunday, May 23, 2021, at 3:00 PM GMT | 6:00 PM EEST (Romania), with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by maestro John Axelrod.

It is for the first time in the history of the Enescu Competition when the first two rounds of the instruments sections are held online. To create a bond between musicians and spectators, the platform provides three buttons through which viewers can virtually applaud, choosing the intensity and form of their praise. Spectators can also send messages to young musicians to encourage them. Access to the 2020 Enescu Competition online content during this period is free. The full program is at this link: https://www.festivalenescu.ro/en/program/.

George Enescu Competition is an international platform for launching the future world-class musicians and for promoting the compositions of the great Romanian composer to the new generation of artists. It is thus a natural extension of the George Enescu Festival, the most important cultural event organized in Romania. The Competition has four sections – violin, cello, piano, and composition – and it ranks in the top five classical music competitions worldwide.

Press Information:  Oana Marinescu | Oana.Marinescu@omavision.ro | tel: +40741 278 737)