In Memoriam – Vladimir Bochkarev (Dedication of Gurwitz Award)

In Memoriam – Vladimir Bochkarev (Dedication of Gurwitz Award)

Dear friends, My beloved piano professor Vladimir Bochkarev passed away on 4 February this year in Montenegro at the age of 75. I am heartbroken. Vladimir left a tremendous musical legacy through his art and his students. He was the reason I became a pianist; he was the reason Musical Bridges was born 26 years ago. To honor his memory, my husband Robert and I will sponsor a Vladimir Bochkarev Discretionary Award for Best Performance of a Work by a Russian Composer as a part of The Gurwitz International Piano Competition, starting in 2028. Anya Grokhovski, DMACEO & Artistic DirectorMusical Bridges Around the World In Memoriam published...

Yungyung Guo Wins Gurwitz Gold!

Yungyung Guo Wins Gurwitz Gold!

Back to Gurwitz News After final Round IV deliberations on Saturday, judges selected winners of the Gold ($30,000), Silver ($20,000), and Bronze ($10,000) Medals based upon their performances throughout the whole competition. Results Gold – Yungyung Guo, ChinaSilver – Tatiana Dorokhova, RussiaBronze – Young Sun Choi, South Korea For Booking Inquiries, please contact Gurwitz Artistic Director Elena Portnaya. Yungyung Guo performed a rousing rendition of Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54 with the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra to take home the Gurwitz Gold Medal. In addition to first prize, Guo was...

2024 Jury Speak on Texas Public Radio Panel

2024 Jury Speak on Texas Public Radio Panel

Back to Gurwitz News Jury Chair Scott Yoo moderated a panel conversation at Texas Public Radio during competition week with fellow jurors Sergio Tiempo, Lilya Zilberstein, and Mikhail Voskresensky, the latter who performed a Waltz in E minor (Op. posth) by Frederic Chopin to cap off the panel. Listen to the full panel and performance here: https://www.tpr.org/arts-culture/2024-02-01/legendary-pianists-share-insights-into-music-life Related Links Competition Videos | Awards & Prizes | Contestants | Repertoire | Jury | Artistic Collaborators | Support Gurwitz | Competition...

3 Finalists Selected!

3 Finalists Selected!

Back to Gurwitz News Judges have narrowed the six Round II semifinalists to three finalists to continue to Round III on Thursday, then to the final Round IV on Saturday.  Finalists Young Sun Choi, South KoreaYungyung Guo, ChinaTatiana Dorokhova, Russia Award Winner Round II required the six semifinalists to include in their program one work by a composer from their country of origin and at least one work from a composer of Latin-American or Spanish origin. Judges awarded a $5,000 prize for Best Performance of a Work by Spanish or Latin Composer to Young Sun Choi for her performance of ‘Quejas o la Maja y el Ruiseñor’ (Complaint, or the Girl...

6 Semifinalists Selected!

6 Semifinalists Selected!

Back to Gurwitz News After independent deliberation by the esteemed jury, The Gurwitz is proud to announce six semifinalists. The following list below is in order they will perform in for Round II on Tuesday at the University at the Incarnate Word: Semifinalists Zihao Wu, ChinaChi-Jo Lee, TaiwanYoung Sun Choi, South KoreaRachel Breen, USAYungyung Guo, ChinaTatiana Dorokhova, Russia Junior Jury Award Winner A Junior Jury comprised of five outstanding area piano students ages 13–18 sat alongside the competition jury during Round I. At the end of the Round, they deliberated together and chose Yungyung Guo as their favorite to win the $2,500...

All Competition Rounds Broadcast Live!

All Competition Rounds Broadcast Live!

Back to Gurwitz News The 2024 competition has expanded its global audience as all four rounds of the competition will be live on a variety of web, broadcast, radio and streaming platforms. It has partnered with Texas Public Radio to record competition audio as well working with New-York based Framework Productions, who are the masterminds behind The Cliburn International Piano Competition’s most recent competition broadcasts. New additions to this broadcast will include a dedicated broadcast host to talk all things Gurwitz, featured guest interviews as well as interviews with each contestant that were recorded before the start of the...

Aztec legend inspires Gurwitz Commissioned Work!

Aztec legend inspires Gurwitz Commissioned Work!

Back to Gurwitz News For each Gurwitz competition, a composer is commissioned to write a piece for piano and chamber ensemble, to be performed by each competition finalist in Round III. What makes this composition unique is that it must draw from a country and/or cultural aspect, and also include of a cadenza that each contestant must prepare on their own. In the last 2020 competition, composer Dr. Ethan Wickman’s “Murmurs from the Exile” mixed Eastern rhythms and scales with Western tonal chromaticism. Now, The Gurwitz has selected composer Dr. Aaron Prado to write a work for the 2024 competition. Prado is a mainstay pianist and...

Twelve Gurwitz 2024 Contestants Announced

Twelve Gurwitz 2024 Contestants Announced

Back to Gurwitz News Over the course of the summer this year, a preliminary jury – 2020 Gold Medalist Jiale Li, Italian pianist Pasquale Iannone, and U.S. pianist Daria Rabotkina – narrowed down from 76 total applicants to the 2024 competition. This jury also made the decision to include an additional round to the selection process in order to come to a final decision due to the high level of the applicant submissions. The Gurwitz International Piano Competition proudly announces the following twelve contestants who will compete live in San Antonio, TX for the 2024 competition in January/February: 2024 Competition Contestants...

Announcing The Gurwitz 2024 International Piano Competition!

Announcing The Gurwitz 2024 International Piano Competition!

Back to Gurwitz News Get ready to immerse yourself in a world of piano brilliance and virtuosity as we proudly announce The Gurwitz International Piano Competition, occurring from 26 January – 4 February 2024 in San Antonio, TX, USA. Please mark your calendars and join us next year! The Gurwitz (formerly the “San Antonio International Piano Competition”) took place previously in 2020 just before the COVID-19 outbreak, and resulted in three medalists – Jiale Li (Gold), Yedam Kim (Silver) and Leonardo Colafelice (Bronze) – who have since performed with MBAW and other Texas groups and continued to build careers in...

2020 Gold Medalist Jiale Li back in San Antonio

2020 Gold Medalist Jiale Li back in San Antonio

Back to Gurwitz News In a recital titled after the artist’s Gold Medal win at the 2020 Gurwitz International Piano Competition, Musical Bridges Around the World presents pianist Jiale Li in “Golden Touch” to open its 26th season of Russell Hill Rogers Musical Evenings at San Fernando Cathedral. The concert will take place on Sunday 24 September 2023 at 7 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Ticket registration is required at mbaw.org/sfc. This performance marks Li’s first return to San Antonio since his victory, and the program will include romantic virtuoso masterworks by Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, and Rachmaninoff.  One year after...

Dionne Warwick is Gurwitz 2024 Honorary Chair!

Dionne Warwick is Gurwitz 2024 Honorary Chair!

Back to Gurwitz News On 5 February 2023, The Gurwitz International Piano Competition announced its new Honorary Chair for the upcoming competition in January/February 2024,  international music icon Dionne Warwick. As a cornerstone of American pop music and culture, Warwick’s soothing and sensual voice has sold over 100 million sold records, six Grammy Awards, and 75 chart hits. So why did The Gurwitz seek her out? One quote from Dionne exemplifies a reason why: “I’d like to see a world free of strife, stress, pain, hunger, war – a cool place where everyone could live.” The statement mirrors Musical Bridges Around the World’s...

Founding Musical Bridges Around the World

Founding Musical Bridges Around the World

Sheila Swartzman, Vladimir Bochkarev, and Jan Puckett at the first MBAW concert at Sheila’s house in 1998. A History by Anya Grokhovski, DMA, MBAW CEO, Founder & Artistic Director Soon after moving to the US from the USSR, I came to Texas with my then-husband, Valeri Grokhovski and my six-year-old son Arseni. Valeri was working as a professor of piano at the University of Texas at San Antonio and having studied piano performance myself at the Gnessin State University in Moscow, I was hired as a staff accompanist at UTSA. In 1998, I decided to invite my favorite professor Vladimir Bochkarev from Russia to visit San Antonio and share my...

Watch Full Concert – Yedam Kim + Gwangju Symphony Orchestra

Watch Full Concert – Yedam Kim + Gwangju Symphony Orchestra

Back to Gurwitz News On 5 February 2023, pianist Yedam Kim and the Gwangju Symphony Orchestra performed at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts in celebration 40th anniversary of Sister City relations between Gwangju, South Korea and San Antonio, TX. The concert was the finale event for Musical Bridges Around the World’s (MBAW) annual music festival, UNITYFest, which creates meaningful connections through cross-cultural collaborations and merging of classical & contemporary music.  French-Korean pianist Yedam Kim is no stranger to San Antonio though, securing the 2020 Silver Medal in The Gurwitz International Piano...

Season 26 of San Fernando Cathedral Announced!

Season 26 of San Fernando Cathedral Announced!

Musical Bridges Around the World founder Anya Grokhovski says when she moved to the US from the USSR in the ‘90s, she never imagined she would reach 25 years of leading a performing arts organization in South Texas. Her energy and enthusiasm have built a model program “celebrating our share humanity by providing access to global arts for all” through an acclaimed, free concert series, an international music festival, visual art exhibitions, senior concerts, and award-winning educational programing. In this Silver Jubilee year, Musical Bridges is happy to announce its 2022-2023 season of Russell Hill Rogers Musical Evenings at San Fernando...

Watch Full Concert – Leonardo Colafelice @ San Fernando Cathedral

Watch Full Concert – Leonardo Colafelice @ San Fernando Cathedral

Back to Gurwitz News Leonardo Colafelice, Italian concert pianist and 2020 Bronze Medalist and Audience Favorite of The Gurwitz International Piano Competition, returned to San Antonio in March 2023 with a stellar new virtuoso program of Franz Liszt compositions inspired by Italian opera masterpieces of Rossini, Bellini and Verdi! From Altamura (Bari) in Southern Italy, Colafelice has won a multitude of international competitions and also currently teaches as Piano Professor at the renowned “Niccolò Piccinni Conservatory of Music” in Bari. Watch the full concert...