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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Back to Gurwitz News Jiale Li of China has won the The Gurwitz 2020 Gold Medal and $25,000 after his Round IV Tobin Center performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the San Antonio Symphony, under the baton of Gurwitz Jury Chairman Maestro Sebastian Lang-Lessing. Excluding Lang-Lessing’s vote (which was overwritten due to his inclusion in the performance), the rest of The Gurwitz Jury came to a vote with the following ruling: Gold – Jiale Li | ChinaSilver – Yedam Kim | KoreaBronze – Leonardo Colafelice | Italy Featured articles on the announcement are below:Classical Voice North AmericaThe Rivard...

Musical Bridges CEO Anya Grokhovski and Gurwitz Judge and acclaimed concert pianist Olga Kern visit FOX29 News Midday to speak about the competition, the contestants, and more! Check out the interview here:...