The Cincinnati World Piano Competition, an annual classical piano competition featuring top performers from across the globe since 1956, welcomes 24 competitors from nine different countries from June 7-13. At stake is over $45,000 in prize money and a debut recital in New York.
For the first time in the competition’s history, the round-by-round competition, all rounds of which take place at CCM’s Corbett Auditorium, will be head-to-head as determined by a randomly selected bracket. The bracket draw will be announced to the competitors at an Opening Party on Saturday, June 6. The first and second rounds (Sunday and Monday, June 7-8 and Tuesday, June 9, respectively) consist of 15-minute solo recitals. The third round on Wednesday, June 10 consists of 30-minute solo recitals, while the semifinal round on Thursday, June 11 involves 40-minute solo recitals. Competitors will be expected to perform a variety of repertoire for all rounds.
Three finalists will be selected at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 11, who will then go on to perform a full concerto with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO), under the direction of rising star conductor Robert Treviño, during the final round of the competition beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 13. The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony immediately following the performances.
Tickets are still available for all preliminary rounds as well as the final round with the CSO. The final performances for the 2013 and 2014 competition sold out.
The jury consists of pianists Akemi Alink-Yamamoto, Jura Margulis, Yoshikazu Nagai, Boris Slutsky and Frank Weinstock. Famed pianist and professor of piano/Artist-in-Residence at CCM, Awadagin Pratt, serves as the competition’s artistic director.
In 2013 the competition underwent an expansion with two exciting new collaborations and instituting a variety of changes aimed at enhancing the quality of the event and making Cincinnati a truly world-class destination for classical piano performance. Primary among the changes at the re-imagined Competition, already a highly respected event, are partnerships with two of the city’s cultural cornerstones – the CSO and CCM, an all-Steinway school.
This year marks the Cincinnati World Piano Competition’s 59th season. Tickets, starting at $15 for the first rounds, are available at the CSO Box Office at Music Hall, or by calling 513-381-3300. Competitor headshots and bios are available upon request.
Cincinnati World Piano Competition 2015 Schedule of Events
Location
Corbett Auditorium, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati
- First Round (Day One): Sunday, June 7, 2-5:45 p.m.
- First Round (Day Two): Monday, June 8, 12-1:45 p.m. and 7-8:45 p.m.
- Second Round: Tuesday, June 9, 10 a.m.-1:45 p.m., 4-5:45 p.m. and 7-8:45 p.m.
- Third Round: Wednesday, June 10, 10 a.m.-1:15 p.m. and 5-8:15 p.m.
- Semifinal Round: Thursday, June 11, 12-3 p.m., 6-9 p.m.
- Final Round with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra: Saturday, June 13, 7:00 p.m.
Purchasing Tickets
One Day Passes for Preliminary Rounds start at $15 One Day Pass, $11.25 Group One Day Pass, $10 Student. Tickets for the final rounds are reserved seating starting at $35. Purchase tickets to all Cincinnati World Piano Competition Events through the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra website at www.cincinnatisymphony.org or by calling the CSO box office at 513-381-3300.
About Robert Treviño, final round conductor
Since his professional debut in 2003 at the age of 20, Robert Treviño has become an emerging force on the international music scene. The 2013/2014 season marks the third season as Associate Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Further engagements this season include debuts with the China Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra de Cámara de Bellas Artes, National Orchestra of Guatemala, California Symphony Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Santa Fe Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Cincinnati Opera, and re-engagements with the Bolshoi Theatre, Slee Sinfonietta, and Cincinnati Symphony. Maestro Treviño steps into his role this season as the Principal Conductor of the Shippensburg Music Festival following his acclaimed debut last summer.
Treviño’s past symphonic and instrumental work includes numerous engagements with orchestras, festivals, and ensembles across North America, Europe, and Asia including the Symphonies of Cincinnati, Boston, St. Louis, Tallahassee, Napa Valley, New World, California, the Philharmonics of Los Angeles, Chicago, Louisiana, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, Suwon Philharmonic of South Korea, Wuppertal Symphony of Germany, Montpellier National Orchestra of France, Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico Philharmonic of Mexico, the Millennium Chamber Players, and the Jusqu’aux Oreilles Festival of Canada. Of particular note was Treviño’s month-long residency with the Helsinki Philharmonic where he has assisted Music Director Leif Segerstam on the complete symphonies of Sibelius.
In addition to his great volume of work in the instrumental realm, an important component of Treviño’s career has been his work in opera. Treviño made an acclaimed debut with the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia conducting Puccini’s Tosca in the 2011/2012 season. His success with this production led to the orchestra bestowing upon him the title of ‘Honorary Maestro of the Bolshoi”. He was also immediately reengaged for two more seasons by the Bolshoi to conduct performances of Puccini’s Tosca as well as a new production and residency in the 2013/14 season for a new production of Verdi’s Don Carlos. Treviño served as Associate Conductor and Guest Conductor for the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center from 2009 – 2011, where he led the company in world premieres of five operas as part of the annual VOX: American Opera Series, in addition to his work on productions: Bernstein’s A Quiet Place and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Additionally, in 2011 Robert conducted the Tanglewood Music Festival Opera Center’s production of Milhaud’s Trios Operas Minutes, directed by Mark Morris.
An avid advocate and performer of contemporary music, Maestro Treviño has commissioned, premiered, and worked closely with many leading composers of today such as: Augusta Read Thomas, Jennifer Higdon, Charles Wuorinen, Bernard Rands, Shulamit Ran, George Walker, David Felder, and John Zorn among others. He has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards from the Foundation for Contemporary Art, Gene Gutche Foundation, Soli Deo Gloria, the Renaissance Society, the Canadian Consular General to the USA and the University of Chicago.
Treviño has conducted the Ensemble Modern Academy Orchestra at the Klangspuren Festival (Schwaz, Austria), the Jusqu’aux Oreilles Festival, as well as the Slee Sinfonietta at the Robert and Carol Morris Center for 21st Century Music.
Robert Treviño is a laureate of the 2010 Evgeny Svetlanov International Conducting Competition and was awarded the 2009 James Conlon Prize for Excellence in Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and School by David Zinman.
He also won a 2010 Career Assistance Award and the 2012 Career Development Award from the Sir George Solti Foundation, and was a featured conductor at the 2011 Bruno Walter National Conductor Preview. In summer 2011, Mr. Treviño was selected by James Levine to be one of three conducting fellows at the Tanglewood Music Festival as the Seiji Ozawa Conducting Fellow where he worked with artists such as Mark Morris, Kurt Masur, and Emanuel Ax.
Mr. Treviño has studied with Maestros David Zinman, Leif Segerstam, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Kurt Masur. For further information can be found at his website: roberttrevino.org.
About the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra is a dynamic ensemble of some of the world’s finest musicians. The fifth oldest symphony orchestra in the U.S. and the oldest orchestra in Ohio, the CSO has played a leading role in the cultural life of Greater Cincinnati and the Midwest since its founding in 1895.
Louis Langrée began his tenure as the CSO’s 13th Music Director in the 2013-2014 season with a celebrated program The New York Times said “deftly combined nods to the orchestra’s history, the city’s musical life and new music.” Over the Orchestra’s 120-year history, it has also been led by Leopold Stokowski, Eugéne Ysaÿe, Fritz Reiner, Eugene Goossens, Max Rudolf, Thomas Schippers, Jesús López-Cobos, and Paavo Järvi, among others. The CSO has built a reputation as one of the world’s foremost orchestras, determined for greatness and heralded as a place of experimentation.
A champion of new music, the Orchestra has given American premieres of works by such composers as Debussy, Ravel, Mahler and Bartók and has commissioned works that have since become mainstays of the classical repertoire, including Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. The CSO was the first orchestra to be broadcast to a national radio audience (1921) and the third to record (1917). The Orchestra continues to commission new works and to program an impressive array of music. Most recently, the CSO performed the world premieres of Nico Muhly’s Pleasure Ground, David Lang’s mountain, Caroline Shaw’s Lo and Daniel Bjarnason’s Collider as part of the groundbreaking collaboration with the MusicNOW Festival, Cincinnati’s premier new music festival, as well as the world premiere of André Previn’s Double Concerto in November 2014.
The Cincinnati Symphony and Pops Orchestra is Cincinnati’s ambassador with over 10 million units sold, many of which have received Grammy awards and nominations. In January of 2010, the CSO launched its own record label, Fanfare Cincinnati, which currently boasts six releases.
The CSO was the first American orchestra to make a world tour sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and continues to tour domestically and internationally, most recently to Europe in 2008 and to Japan in 2009, including two concerts at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall and the CSO’s first-ever nationally televised concert in Japan.
The CSO has performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall 48 times since its debut there in 1917, most recently to rave reviews in May of 2014. The Orchestra will perform again in New York as part of Lincoln Center’s prestigious Great Performers series in January of 2016.
The Orchestra also performs, records and tours as the Cincinnati Pops under the direction of John Morris Russell, and the CSO is the official orchestra for the Cincinnati May Festival, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Ballet and the Cincinnati World Piano Competition.
The CSO is Cincinnati’s own and committed to enhancing and expanding music education for the children of Greater Cincinnati and works to bring music education, in its many different forms, to as broad a public as possible. Education and outreach programs currently serve more than 80,000 individuals annually.
For more information about the CSO, visit www.cincinnatisymphony.org.
About the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
Nationally ranked and internationally renowned, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) is a preeminent institution for the performing and media arts. Declared “one of the nation’s leading conservatories” by the New York Times, CCM provides life-changing experiences within a highly creative and multidisciplinary artistic environment.
CCM’s educational roots date back to 1867, and a solid, visionary instruction has been at its core since that time. The synergy created by housing CCM within a comprehensive public university gives the college its unique character and defines its objective: to educate and inspire the whole artist and scholar for positions on the world’s stage.
CCM’s faculty and staff and its state-of-the-art facilities make possible the professional training and exceptional education on which CCM believes the future of the arts relies. The school’s roster of eminent faculty regularly receives distinguished honors for creative and scholarly work, and its alumni have achieved notable success in the performing and media arts.
More than 150 internationally recognized faculty members work with students from around the world, specializing in the areas of Composition, Musicology and Theory; Electronic Media; Ensembles and Conducting; Keyboard Studies; Music Education; Performance Studies and Theatre Arts, Production and Arts Administration. In the most recent rankings by U.S. News and World Report, CCM was honored as the sixth top program in the country for pursuing a graduate degree in music. CCM ensembles have performed internationally, recorded for major labels and won ASCAP awards for excellence and programming.
The largest single source of performing arts events in the state of Ohio, CCM presents nearly 1000 major public performances each year, ranging from faculty and guest artist concerts to fully supported opera, musical theatre, drama and dance productions.
In 1999 CCM celebrated the completion of the CCM Village, the renovated and expanded home of the college. Its stunning, comprehensive performance and educational facilities are unrivaled in the nation. Designed by architect Henry N. Cobb, the CCM Village received a National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects in 2001.
In 2009 CCM received the designation of “All-Steinway School,” a distinction shared by the top conservatories in the world. CCM has also become one of the largest repositories of Steinway pianos outside of the company’s Long Island City, N.Y.-based factory.
In 2011 CCM was officially recognized by the Ohio Board of Regents as the state’s first Center of Excellence in Music and Theatre Arts.
For more information about the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, please visit us online at ccm.uc.edu.
About the Cincinnati World Piano Competition
Held annually in Cincinnati, the Cincinnati World Piano Competition attracts applicants from every corner of the world. The talented artists and young artists proceed through a series of auditions to the Cincinnati World Piano Competition to compete for over $45,000 in prize money. The Gold Medal winner in the Artist Division is awarded a debut recital in New York and numerous performance opportunities worldwide.
The Competition is sponsored by ArtsWave, the Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund, Western and Southern Financial Group, and the Sarah Marvin Foundation for the Performing Arts.
