THE FOUNDATION

FOR THE INTERNATIONAL PIANO INSTITUTE

OF SANTA FE

WORLD INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

Competition Internationale

 
WINNERS

WORLD INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION SANTA FE

2007-2008


First Place  $10,000
Dr. Christopher Atzinger

 Pianist Christopher Atzinger, a native of Jackson, Michigan, has performed in Austria, Italy, France, Spain and Canada in addition to performances throughout the United States highlighted by 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.  His artistry has also been broadcast on Chicagos Live from WFMT and Live from FM 91 on WGTE Toledo, Ohio.  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.

            A medalist of the New Orleans International Piano Competition, the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, and the Nina Plant Wideman International Piano Competition, Atzinger has been praised by critics for his "personal interpretive vision" and "virtuoso aplomb". He was also winner of the 2005 National Federation of Music Clubs Artist Competition and the Premio Citt di Ispica prize at the IBLA Grand Prize Competition in Ragusa-Ibla, Italy.  Additionally, he has received honors from the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition, the National Society of Arts and Letters, and MTNA.  He has received grants and fellowships from the Theodore Presser Foundation, the American Composers Forum, Foundation La Gesse, and the Joyce Dutka Arts Foundation. 

Atzinger has performed with the Shreveport Symphony, Jackson Symphony (MI), World Festival Orchestra and the St. Olaf Orchestra and has worked with maestros Rossen Milanov, Neal Gittleman, Stephen Smith, and Timothy Muffit among others.  In March, 2008, he will appear with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Klauspeter Seibel.  Also an accomplished collaborative pianist, Atzinger won first prize at the Sydney Wright Memorial Accompaniment Competition.  He especially enjoys musical collaborations with his wife, soprano, Brenda Nicole Atzinger.

            In addition to degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan, Atzinger earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University.  He counts among his teachers Julian Martin, Robert McDonald, Anton Nel, David Renner, and Carolyn Lipp, among others.  Additional keyboard studies with Timothy Lovelace, Edward Parmentier, and Penelope Crawford.  Prior to his faculty appointment at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, he taught at Dickinson College (PA).



 
          
Second Place $2,000
Esther Park

 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 has appeared as soloist with many orchestras such as Corpus Christi Symphony, Filharmonia Pomorska, Poland, Orchestra Filarmonica, Romania, Shanghai Philharmonic, China, the American Academy of Conducting Orchestra at Aspen, Shreveport Symphony, the Juilliard Symphony, and the New Jersey Symphony.

             Ms. Park gave a five-city recital tour in Korea, and has performed at the Juilliard Theater in NYC, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Halls Weill Recital Hall, Salle Cortot in Paris, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and on the Kum-Ho Music societys Prodigy Series. She has appeared at the Music Academy of the West (Santa Barbara), the Aspen Music Festival, the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival in Maine, the Tel-Hai International Music Festival in Israel, and the Van Cliburn-TCU Institute in Texas. Ms. Park has been heard in New York on WQXR Radio station as the winner of the 52nd Kosciusko International Competition and the Gina Bachauer Competition.

            Ms. Park is the winner of the 2004 Gina Bachauer Piano Competition at the Juilliard School. She is the winner of the Juilliard concerto competition, the 52nd Kosciusko International Piano Competition, New Jersey Young Artists Audition, the Van Cliburn-TCU Institute Young Artist Competition, Corpus Christi International Competition, top prizes at the 3rd China Shanghai International Piano Competition, 6th Paderewski International Piano Competition, the National Chopin Competition, Hilton Head International Competition, the 14th New Orleans International Piano Competition, and is the recipient of the President Clintons 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, after being accepted to the Juilliard Schools Pre-College division. Ms. Park has since received her Bachelors degree and Masters degree from the Juilliard School, studying with Yoheved Kaplinsky. She has performed in master classes of Arie Vardi, Richard Goode, Leon Fleisher, Jerome Lowenthal, Joseph Kalichstein, Andrew Litton, Joachin Achuccaro, and Karl Ulrich Schnabel.

 
 
Third Place  $1,000
Mauricio Arias

 Mauricio Ariaswas 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. During his short career as a pianist, he has been awarded the following prizes:

      2" Prize III Iberoamerican Piano Competition. Havana, Cuba. 2001
     3" Prize. Jacob Flier International Piano Competition. New Paltz, NY. 2003
       1st Prize. IX National Piano Competition, Universidad Industrial de Santander.
 
Bucaramanga, Colombia 2004.

       1st Prize. I Fryderyk Chopin National Piano Competition. Bogota, Colombia. 2005
     Finalist. ifi Ignacio Cervantes International Piano Competition. Havana, Cuba. 2005

On 2005 he gave a recital in Krakow, Poland and he also participated in the preliminary round of the XV International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.

On 2003/2004 he participated in PianoSummer at New Paltz, NY (Vladimir Feltsman Artistic Director). He has performed in the main concert venues in Colombia, both as a recitalist and as a soloist. 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.

He is now working towards the completion of his Masters Degree with Robert Hamilton at Arizona State University.

 
 Fourth Place  $500
Dr. Noel Engebretson

Noel Engebretson has established a significant career as a pianist and educator, with a reputation that continues to grow.

A Professor of Music at The University of Alabama, he originally is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. His debut occurred there when he was sixteen, with a performance as guest soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra. 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 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 masterciasses. Among the many concerts were appearances with three of Chinas top orchestras, plus solo recitals in many of the major conservatories. These concerts earned him many accolades, and he has been invited back to every major location in which he has performed. This was his second tour of China.

He also has performed in recitals and as guest soloist throughout the United States, appearing with such orchestras as the Waukesha Symphony Orchestra, the Glendale Pops Orchestra, the Lawton Philharmonic, the Rochester Symphony Orchestra, the Austin Symphony in Texas, the Kansas City Medical Arts Orchestra, as well as numerous appearances with the St. Paul Civic Symphony. He has also premiered several new compositions by 20th century composers.

 He has studied with some of the worlds leading musicians; among them, John Perry, Frank Mannheimer, as well as Paul Freed, Jorge Bolet, and Leonid Hambro. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Minnesota.

In the summer of 1988 he was one of four artists from around the world to be invited to perform and give master classes at the Eastman School of Music. He has also spent one year on the faculty at the Idyllwild School Of Music And The Arts, as well as participating as faculty in their Summer Music Festival. He has also performed and taught at the Arcosanti Music Festival in Arizona.

He was an award winner in the MTNA Collegiate Artist Competition at the national level, the Minnesota Symphony Competition, Boyd National Competition, Louise D. McMahon International Competition, United States Information Agency Violin and Piano Competition, the Young Keyboard Artists Association International Piano Competition and many more. He has also been an adjudicator and conference artist in various International Piano Competitions and Festivals. His students have placed or won top awards in the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition, the California Music Teachers Association Bartok Competition, as well as numerous local and regional competitions throughout the west and the southeast. In 2001, he joined the faculty at the Interlochen Summer Music Festival for four seasons.

 Fifth Place (Tie)  $250/
Michael Schneider

Critics have hailed 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 championing the music of Franz Liszt, Michael was awarded the Demonic Liszt Prize at the Competition Internationale held in Sante Fe, New Mexico and won six awards at the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, including first prize in the Concerto Division and first prize in the Longer Work Category (Dante Sonata). In 2005, he was a top prize winner in the 3rd International Franz Liszt Competition held in Warsaw, Poland.

Mr. Schneider has performed in such venues as the legendary chteau 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, also winning the prize for the best performance of a work by an American composer. Recently he was a featured guest artist at the Music Festival of the Hamptons, directed by Lukas Foss. Appearances with orchestras include the Bydgoszcz and Wrolaw Philharmonics in Poland, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra (IL), the Richardson Symphony Orchestra (TX), the Bartlesville Symphony Orchestra (OK), the Big Spring Symphony (TX), and the San Angelo Symphony (TX).

Mr. Schneider is a laureate of many international piano competitions, including the 10th Pacific Piano Competition in Vancouver, the 7th~ San Antonio International Piano Competition, the 4thInternational Paderewski Piano Competition held in Poland, the Kosciuszko Foundation Chopin Piano Competition in New York, the Texas Steinway Society Career Development Award, and the Grace Welsh Prize for Piano in Chicago.

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. Michael firmly believes in the power of audience participation and involvement He frequently introduces his programs with a historical perspective and many times shares his own personal and sometimes witty experiences with the music The third San Angelo Piano Festival took place January 19-21, 2007 where Michael collaborated in a performance with renown violinist Jun Iwasaki.

 Fifth Place (Tie)
Rena Rzayeva

Rena Rzayeva graduated from Azerbaijan State Conservatory (nowadays - Baku Music Academy). Soloist of the Azerbaijan State Philharmony, Baku. Recitals and orchestral perfomances in Azerbaijan, Russia, USA, Austria, Germany, UK, Switzerland, Netherlands, Egypt, Spain, Turkey, etc...

The pianist`s repertoire ranges from Bach to the latest works of outstanding complexity from Schumann'`s "Kreisleriana" , "Variations on the theme of Paganini" by Brahms to the famous "Petrouchka Suite" by Strawinsky.

  Rena Rzayeva performed together with such honoured and well-known conductors as Niyazi, Rauf Abdullayev (both - Azerbaijan), Kreshimir Shipush (Norway), David Bukhin (Russia), Roland Freisitzer(Austria), violinist Hans-Heinz Schneeberger (Switzerland), pianist Daniel Grimwood (Great Britain    Various composers have dedicated their piano works to Rena (for example, Ulf-Diether Soyka, Roland Freisitzer, Helmut Neumann - Austria, James Clarke - Great Britain, Zaur Fakhradov, Rahilia Hassanova -Azerbaijan, etc.

    Rena recorded four solo CDs - "Music in Verse" (1996) and "Kara Karayev...Through Time" (2000), which have been released by "Postern Park Digital", a British label , also "Robert Schumann-From West to East" (2006) and "Kara Karayev's Circle" (2006) by "Video Labs Corporation", USA .   Her performance of "Seven Pieces" by Javanshir Kuliyev was selected by "Vienna Modern Masters" for CD released in "Distinguished Performers Series V" (1998).

    The range of her interests is wide; it relates not only to music, but also to poetry. She has acquired a good command of English, Germany and Italian by herself. She speaks and writes verses in these languages.

 She likes to be the first performer of the pieces by both Azerbaijanian and other composers.   Rena Rzayeva was the first in Azerbaijan to set up solo programmes, tried to the principle of creative continuity and a spiritual relationship:    The pianist is always on the listener's side, hence she outgrows her desire to create more programmes united by interesting and extraordinary conceptions.