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Fourth Prize Winner Kyu Yeon Kim; Third Prize Winner Eric Zuber; Second Prize Winner Alexey Chernov; First Prize Winner Alexander Schimpf, Photo by Roger Mastroianni

The Cleveland International Piano Competition is a ten-day marathon of musical performances in which 30 of the world’s greatest, young, concert pianists compete all day in front of live audiences and an international jury. Held each year at Severance Hall, one of the world’s most beautiful concert halls and home of the world renowned Cleveland Orchestra, the competition is the epitome of extreme challenge and competition. At the end of each round the jury votes, advancing a number of pianists until the final round of four competitors. The final four then perform with the Cleveland Orchestra, after which the $50,000 Grand Prize winner is announced. The Winner’s Recital, which I had the pleasure of attending with my family, is held the following day.

Watching the brilliant performances alongside my family, for whom music is a deeply woven bond, was an emotionally charged experience to say the least! I’d have equipped myself with a smart supply of tissues had I known each and every pianist would take me to the point of fighting back tears. However, it was the passion of Eric Zuber’s performance of Chopin’s Etudes, Op. 10 Nos. 1, 3, 5, 8 & 12 that had the power to bring those tears down my cheeks and seemed to suspend time itself.

I’m from a family of musicians. My parents are both amateur pianists. Both my grandmothers were also. Back in the late 1940’s you would have found my Grandma Hazel accompanying the Cleveland youth ballet at the piano in their studios at the top floor of the IBM building downtown. Meanwhile, halfway across the country, Grandma Orene, a third grade teacher, was teaching children piano lessons after school in her home.

It’s no surprise, decades later, the music of my parents playing the baby grand Steinway overflowed every room of my childhood home on a daily basis, reaching the far corners of the basement to the highest rooms in the attic. Mom, a highly disciplined person, (and phenomenal visual artist), practiced two hours each morning, while our father accompanied family sing-a-longs and joined in duets with my sister (violin) and me (flute). When he played alone, he often favored Chopin; and as an adult I’d never found anyone who came close to capturing the passion of Chopin like my father does. Until that is, I heard Mr. Eric Zuber’s performance…

My heart broke open, magically suspended on a wrinkle in time between those childhood memories, of listening to my father perform the very same pieces, and the present, seated beside him decades latter, that Sunday afternoon of the International Piano Competition Finale.

Please share with me, a taste of Eric Zuber performing Chopin below…

Summary of Top Award Winners 
First Prize: Mr. Alexander Schimpf of Germany $50,000
Second Prize: Mr. Alexey Chernov 
of Russia $25,000
Third Prize: Mr. Eric Zuber
of the United States $15,000
Fourth Prize: Ms. Kyu Yeon Kim of South Korea 
$10,000

Severance Hall, Gestural Pen & Ink on Lanaquarelle Paper by Juliane Porter