well, I had my list of 12 picked out with 4 prospective medalists, and 7 "other favourites" besides. only 4 of my top 12 made it, and 5 of my other 7. so 3 of them that advanced weren't anywhere on my list! only 1 of my prospective medalists did (at least it was the one I think might be gold). the other 3 I had down for those were Stephen Beus (silver) I LOVED HIM OMG! and then I couldn't decide for 3rd between Chetan Tierra (what a beautiful liszt ballade and amazing brahms/paganini!) or Zhang Zuo.

as a side note, Myer wasn't anywhere on my list... what exactly did you like about him?

But yeah... Haochen Zhang, who could possibly have THREE MORE CHANCES at this, above Beus?! it's Beus's last chance! and he was so much better anyway, and has waaaaaaaay more experience.

Mine too. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!!!!!!!

Fortunately, I still have favorites in Dank, Vocatello, Deljavan, and Bozhanov in the semis.

no love for eduard kunz around here? I think he should be a medalist...

Wow, Vacatello's Scriabin just now was beautiful. She's going to be tough to beat I think.

Well, congratulations for getting some of the semifinalists right. I managed to miss the mark most of the time. Sometimes I don't know what planet the jury comes from. I really liked Tierra as well, and he didn't make it either. I guess the reason I liked Myer is that he could take repertoire that I don't usually care for and mold it into something that really held my interest. No, he's not my top guy, but I liked him anyway. And he was an American... I agree with you... Zhang didn't impress me nearly as much as Beus did, yet Zhang got in the semis somehow. I feel very sorry for Beus.



My sentiments exactly... I'm listening to Vocatello's semifinal recital right now and I really like her. I'd been out and missed her prelims recital. Man, she's good!



I do like him... he seems just a wee bit different to me. I'll warm up to him eventually!

The biggest surprise to me is Haochen Zhang. That guy has no stage presence at all.

I too didn't think he'd have a chance. Maybe the jury favored him because of his age?

that must be it about the age thing w/ haochen zhang.

I LOVE Eduard Kunz's interpretations of stuff. his quintet tonight was absolutely amazing. during the whole second movement there were probably 20 melodies in the left hand that I had literally never heard before which he brought out!

I really really loved Vacatello's prelim recital so I was excited to hear her again (especially her liszt sonata) but she too disappointed in the semi's imo. I was expecting the liszt to be so powerful and.. well, perfect. I thought her's was a little on the slow side though, and sounded too subdued. really her whole semi's recital didn't do much for me :-/

I'm really glad now that Ran Dank made it even though he wasn't on my top 12. his brahms quintet was also outstanding.

AND finally, Evgeni Bozhanov was nowhere on my list of people who I thought should advance, but I've never heard anything like his Schubert today!! that was SO incredible. I usually hate Schubert, but I think it's just because nobody seems to play it well. at least today I loved it, and it was really a pleasant surprise because I was expecting to be bored stiff for that half hour but I was completely captivated instead

Bozhanov's facial expressions do little for me, but dang he can play! I don't think you'll very see many pianists who play with the precision he does.

He is far and away the most musical of them all, at least from what I've heard. His
chamber rehearsal is even beautiful. I can't wait to hear this piece played in full.
Some people are complaining on the blogs that his playing is not very "traditional",
whatever that means, and the judges may hold that against him. I hope not.

Uh oh, I have to take back what I said about Haochen Zhang. This guy can play!

Wow, there's been some great music-making going on! Now I'm having a hard time picking favorites. I must admit, Kunz's quintet was gorgeous. I'll be out this weekend, so unfortunately I will miss the rest of the semis. Monday morning may contain quite a revelation in regards to the finalists.

Tsujii's Schumann quintet was easily his best performance, though the other quintets I have seen were better IMHO. Also fun to see the pianist not using music in a chamber performance.

Will be interesting to see who makes it...

Though I was unable to hear it all live, I tremendously enjoyed Kunz's semifinal recital.

So what about the finalists? All a superb bunch. Bozhanov is definitely my favorite among this group. His Rach 2 rehearsal with the FWSO this afternoon was quite simply stunning. No Ran Dank or Andrea Lam is a bit disappointing, though. I would rather have seen either instead of Zhang.



Evgeni Bozhanov
Yeol Eum Son
Nobuyuki Tsujii
Mariangela Vacatello
Di Wu
Haochen Zhang



Tsujii is rehearsing the Chopin E minor right now with orchestra. Quite nice.