After the award ceremony: shareholder Mingtong Zheng, jury members RamintaLampsatis and Nathan Steinhagen, prizewinners Uram Kim, SeoyoungJang,DaryaDadykina, Ju Ae Ha and Alexander Breitenbach as well as Niendorf director Markus Ernicke (from left)photos by Gerald Bornschein
Luckenwalde. For the very first time, the Niendorf Piano Company organized an international piano competition - and thrilled the audience with a brilliant classic closing concert in the concert hall of the manufacture at Wednesday, October 5, 2016.
Chief executive officer Markus Ernicke welcomed all guests, highlighting the 120th anniversary of the traditional German piano brand “Niendorf,” and wished: “Sit back, enjoy and have fun!” The jury members Raminta Lampsatis, professor for correpetition at the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg, and Nathan Steinhagen, pianist, composer and pedagogue, guided the audience through the program. The latter one emphasized the exceptionally high level of all prizewinners, which they did not expect before.“I am so happy about this concert that is truly worthy of any capital city. We congratulate this city of Luckenwalde!,” he said.
It was not easy for the jury members, Lampsatis said. The prizewinners originate from three nations. A special prize for “The best interpretation of a work of the Viennese Classic,” endowed with a prize money of EUR 1.500,00, was given to Alexander Breitenbach. At the concert, the 19-year-old is the only German among the prizewinners. He played Franz Schubert´s “Impromptu” in F minor.
Two female pianists share the third prize awarded with a prize money of EUR 1.500,00 in total. The Ukrainian DaryaDadykina (25), who performed the “ Danse Macabre” by Camille Saint-Saëns and Franz Liszt, and the Korean Ju Ae Ha (28), who performed the third movement of Henri Dutilleux´s piano sonata “Choral et variations.” The concert continued with Liszt´s “Ballad No. 2” played by SeoyoungJang. The 27-year-old Korean won the second prize – and a prize money of EUR 3.000,00.
Winner of the competition is Uram Kim from Korea. He is 19 years old and was born in Seoul. Now, he is studying the piano at the University of Music in Karlsruhe and will expectedly receive his Bachelor´s degree in summer next year and probably continue his education with a Master´s program.
The award of EUR 8.000,00 for the first prize will surely be useful on his way to a career as a concert pianist. As the best pianist of the competition, he could perform two pieces and decided for the first movement of the sonata in F minor opus 5 by Johannes Brahms and the prelude No. 2 in B flat major opus 23 by Sergej Rachmaninoff.
All musical contributions were appreciated with intensive applause by the audience. In the name of the city of Luckenwalde, BirgitDemgenski handed a lovely souvenir, the market tower made out of chocolate, to the prizewinners, but also a bouquet of flowers with pelican-figures to the Niendorf Piano Company. The heraldic animal of Luckenwalde can be found in the logo of the company as well as on all Niendorf pianos.
Another international piano competiton is already planned for the next year. The company announces that not only Luckenwalde can be looking forward to this.
First prizewinner is the 19-year old Uram Kim fromSouth Korea. The audience in the concert hall of the Niendorf Piano Company was thrilled.
