Piano Promenades: The Nine Semifinalists

Before the PianoArts 2012 competition final took place on Wednesday night, the nine semifinalists were invited to play a piece of their own choosing for a small crowd in the Wilson Center auditorium. The event was hosted by 2010 PianoArts first-prize winner David Yoshiaki Ko, who introduced and told anecdotes about each semifinalist in turn.

Each pianist, with one exception, played a selection from their contest program. Josephine Yang played a selection from Maurice Ravel's Miroirs: Alborada del Graciosio, the "Comedian's Aubade". Ariela Bohrod reprised her performance of Chopin's Nocturne No. 17. Phillip Kwoka followed with "Transmissions" by David Macintyre. Brian Lin played Bach's Prelude and Fugue No. 15 from "The Well-Tempered Clavier". Yinuo Qian played one of her Chopin Mazurkas (No. 2, for those scoring at home) and Garrick Olsen performed Marc-André Hamelin's "Erlkönig", the No. 8 etude from Hamelin's 12 Etudes in All the Minor Keys. (Ko joked that he did a double take upon seeing Olsen's name in the program; apparently Olsen's doppelgänger is moderately well known).

Christian Gamboa then became the only semifinalist to play something outside his program; Gamboa eschewed his solo pieces in favor of a selection from Rachmaninoff's Études-Tableaux. Yesse Kim followed with part of Beethoven's Sonata No. 24, and Yoan Ganev closed out the event with Chopin's Nocturne No. 3.

And in the spirit of Rachmaninoff, some more musical comedy: