The World International Piano Competition - Presented by The International Piano Institute of Santa Fe, Inc.

First Place $10,000- Dr. Christopher Atzinger International Piano Competition winner Christopher Atzinger, a native of Jackson, Michigan, has performed in Austria, Italy, France, Spain and Canada in addition to concerts in New York at Carnegie Hall (Weill), New York University, St. Pauls Chapel, Liederkranz Hall; in Chicago at the Dame Myra Hess Series; and in Washington, D.C. at the Phillips Collection. He has performed at the Banff International Keyboard Festival, Brevard Music Festival, and the Chautauqua Institution, in addition to giving lectures and masterclasses across the county. Atzinger earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. Prior to his faculty appointment at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, he taught at Dickinson College (PA).
Second Place $2,000 - Esther Park International Piano Competition second-place winner Esther Park has performed as a soloist with orchestras and in recitals across the United States as well as in Korea, China, Canada, France, Russia, Ireland, Spain, Poland, Italy and Israel. Ms. Park is the winner of the 2004 Gina Bachauer Piano Competition at the Juilliard School, the 52nd Kosciusko International Piano Competition, New Jersey Young Artists Audition, the Van Cliburn-TCU Institute Young Artist Competition, Corpus Christi International Piano Competition, and several other international piano competitions. She is the recipient of the President Clinton Prodigy Award. Born in Pusan, Korea in 1984, Ms. Park began to play in public soon after her first piano lessons at the age of four. Ms. Park moved to the United States in 1995, and has since received her Bachelors degree and Masters degree from the Juilliard School, studying with Yoheved Kaplinsky.
Third Place $1,000 - Mauricio Arias International Piano Competition third-place winner Mauricio Arias was born in Bogota, Colombia in 1984. He began his piano studies at age 13 with polish professor Ludmila Weber. In 2005 he received his Bachelors Degree Summa Cum Laude from Fundacin Universitaria Juan N. Corpas in Bogota with a minor in composition. From 2003-2004 he participated in Piano Summer at New Paltz, NY. He has been featured as a soloist with the Tolima Symphony Orchestra (2002), Corpas Symphony Orchestra (2003), Filarmnica del Valle (2004), National Conservatory Symphony Orchestra (2005), National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia (2005), National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba (2005). His piece The Snake was premiered by the Corpas University Symphony Orchestra in 2003.
Fourth Place $500 - Dr. Noel Engebretson International Piano Competition fourth-place winner Noel Engebretson has established a significant career as a pianist and educator. A Professor of Music at The University of Alabama, he originally is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. His debut occurred there when he was sixteen, and since then he has won numerous awards and honors, including a bronze medal at the 1989 McMahon International Piano Competition, as well as one of the most important awards in the 1988 Young Keyboard Artists Association International Piano Competition and the 2007 Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition. In the summer of 1996 he embarked on a concert tour of The Peoples Republic of China, where he was featured artist in a series of recitals, lectures, and master classes. He has studied with some of the worlds leading musicians; among them, John Perry, Frank Mannheimer, and Paul Freed. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Minnesota.
Fifth Place (Tie) - $250 - Michael Schneider Critics have hailed International Piano Competition fifth-place winner Michael Schneider as "a pianist with exceptional insight" and a "performer with great panache" in performances across the states and overseas to Poland and France. Recently, Michael won six awards at the Los Angeles International Liszt Piano Competition Mr. Schneider has performed in such venues as the legendary chateau of George Sand in Nohant, France, performing an all-Chopin recital as a guest artist in the International Chopin Festival, and Carnegies Weill Recital Hall as a prizewinner of the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition. The fall of 2004 marked the inauguration of the San Angelo Piano Festival (SAPF), a new festival in West Texas created and directed by Michael Schneider One of the missions of the festival is to help bridge the gap between classical music and youth by offering outreach programs to schools in the community. .
Fifth Place (Tie) -$250 - Rena Rzayeva International Piano Competition fifth-place winner Rena Rzayeva graduated from Azerbaijan State Conservatory and she is a soloist of the Azerbaijan State Philharmony, Baku. Recitals and orchestral performances include Azerbaijan, Russia, USA, Austria, Germany, UK, Switzerland, Netherlands, Egypt, Spain, and Turkey. Rena Rzayeva performed together with such honored and well-known conductors as Niyazi, Rauf Abdullayev (both - Azerbaijan), Kreshimir Shipush (Norway), David Bukhin (Russia), violinist Hans-Heinz Schneeberger (Switzerland), and pianist Daniel Grimwood (Great Britain). Rena has recorded four solo CDs over the last decade. Rena Rzayeva was the first in Azerbaijan to set up solo programs, tied to the principle of creative continuity and a spiritual relationship: She continues her desire to create more programs united by interesting and extraordinary conceptions.

Dr. Michael Baron, Chair of Adjudication
Dedicated to Dr. William Seymour
and Professor William Gant

For More Information:
Larry Porter, M.M., Director
World International Piano Competition
Presented by the International Piano Institute of Santa Fe, Inc.
551 W. Cordova Rd. #133
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505
505-577-5962.
pianospianos @hotmail.com

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