Hakki has a thread on this in the "Pianist Corner" section. I thought it would be good to have one here too.
He has an exciting video of the Mephisto Waltz in it, I have Scriabin's 9th sonata ......and I know that at least a couple of other members here are participating too: LisztAddict and musica71.
Who else?

And I'm sure none of us will mind if you all come and look at our videos.

(OK, now I see why Hakki put his thread up there......nobody really looks down here.)

Or we can use this thread for general competition chit/chat.

By the way, I plan to go to Chicago in June 2010. Hope you can go too.

For Berlin 2010, I'll have to see how US$ measure up to the Euro. If the US$ keeps falling at this rate, I cannot afford going to Berlin.

If US$ keeps falling, Berlin will be able to come here.

I'll tell E.Z. that.

And believe it or not, I.P. (from Muenster) said to me that the trip to Boston was cheaper than to the trip to Berlin last year.

Even though that's hardly believable, I guess it's really true.....

I was in Berlin for 3 days this last September. I know hotel for a day in central Berlin can cost as much as 5 days dorm in Wellesley. I had one plate of food and a small coke for lunch at KaDeWe, that was 22e.

So......it's just us, eh?
I guess hardly anybody looks down to this section, dunno why.....

P.S. For that price, I hope the food at least was pretty good.

It was good but can't say "pretty good".

Then you should sue.

I should sue and demand my money back plus compensations!!!

LA -- I did a thread with my Scriabin under "Member Recordings."
I don't see that anyone else in the contest did that. How about you do one too, so I won't feel like I did something dirty or anything......

Btw, I don't know if you've noticed the PW online E-citals. Since you are a Chopin addict, it would be nice to have your participation in the next Chopin E-cital on March 1, 2010.
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1258461/1.html

Unsung heroes E-cital.
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1279734/1.html

Schumann E-cital.
http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1262646/1.html


The Pianist Corner had an "Etude" recital last October.
http://www.etuderecital.org/

doowlehc is Ricker. You know him.

I already posted many recordings there, but they are just audio recordings. I only figured out how to do the video one day before the deadline of the youtube thing.

Hey LA......this is gonna sound hilarious, but.....When I saw "Ecitals" I thought it was just a misspelling for Recitals. :-)

.....and while we're talking about the "spelling" of that word.....

One time, a bunch of us thought it was a good idea to make POSTERS for a friend who was giving a recital.
The name of the auditorium was Fine Arts Recital Hall.
On my poster, I purposely omitted the "i" in Recital.

Nobody noticed.

UPDATE (courtesy of a friend in the contest who has a sharp eye):

Apparently there will be MULTIPLE winners.
This is from the Cliburn website:

http://www.cliburn.org/uploads/images/homepage/youtube_homepage.jpg

I saw that too. I doubt there will be more than 1 winner unless the winners are picked by a judging panel of professional pianists. There are many very good participants, and I couldn't even decide who I think is the best. But with this voting system, it's all about who can get the most votes from friends networks. It's a lot of fun to be in it, but I don't feel like being in a piano competition.

OK -- and the great thing is, we'll find out quite soon.

I feel sure there will be multiple winners, i.e. at least 2.
I had been wondering anyway (for various reasons) if they wished they had specified that there can be multiple winners, because that seemed like the most appropriate result. And the fact that they are now saying "winners" clinches it in my mind.

BTW.....while we're 'killing time' waiting for the results.....you might enjoy trying your hand at the "quiz" I posted on Pianist Corner. If you know the answer, please don't give it away for a while.

I happened to find it while googling some stuff and thought this site might find it interesting.

P.S. (edit) I deleted that post.....I might put it back later. Stay tuned.

Of course I know the answer. I just don't know what the quiz question is.

Oh.....I'll wait till I see you on here and ask if you think it's a good idea first.....

Hi Gang: I am just getting back into piano mode after a few years of not playing. Considering VC amateur in May 2011!

Glad you found this thread, and maybe we'll see you in Fort Worth in '011!
Meanwhile maybe they'll be doing another youtube contest before that and we can see you in that too.....
BTW you can still see our videos if you want, even though the voting is over.

BTW......I took a glance at your profile and I see that your pianos include a Bosendorfer.
Cool!

I've often used them for performances. And as luck would have it, the place where I did my video has one among their house pianos. Bosendorfer for Scriabin might seem an odd choice, but I jumped at it.

(.....and for all I know, maybe a Kurzweil is just as cool too....)

You may also want to consider participating some other amateur competitions in 2010.

Here is a list.
http://www.bostonpianoamateurs.org/pianocalendar/pianocalendar.html

(Actually the Colorado event ["Rocky Mountain"] won't be having a "competition" next year, just a "celebration".....)

OK......today was the day, and the result just came out.
The winner was someone that I think we'd have to consider a "dark horse," ChooHooi Khoo. I have my opinions and I'm going to try to keep them to myself because obviously I can't be objective, not just because I didn't "win," which I didn't expect to, but more so because I had ideas about who might win and I was very wrong. But I would be very interested in what other people's reactions might be. All the videos are still online.....

Cliburn amateur YouTube videos

.....and probably will be for some time.

Hers is over here:

Winner's video

Well you were right.
Turns out the "winners" thing probably was just a typo!

Consolations and congratulations to you, LA. I thought you had a shot.

I expected that the winner could be ANYONE from the field of 58.

Well, you were right about that too.

You must have understood the process and the possibilities better than I did.

Heidi Basarab would have my vote. I didn't see them all but I looked at all the ones that had high ratings. There is lots of good stuff there in those videos and they are enjoyable to watch.

I wonder what made them go with Khoo. Look at 4:29-4:35. Ech. You kind of get the feeling the performance is on the verge of that kind of thing the whole way through.

Maybe the judges have sat through so many agonizing childrens' recitals in their lives that they've started to like that tense feeling of waiting for a mistake to happen.

Like I said in a previous post, this for me is not really a piano contest. It's crazy for me to post a video of myself on youtube. But it's also a bit of fun to be in the pack and find a few familiar faces.

She's a good friend and I thought she was a top contender.

The judges were "the public." The result is based on online voting.

Regarding your reactions to the stuff, I think you're a good observer.

"It's not the people who vote that count. It's the people who count the votes."

I was one of the 'public' but I never got around to voting. Frankly, I didn't have the time to wade through sixty videos and think seriously about them. I suppose I could have just picked a few (my friends and acquaintances) but that's not my style. More on this issue just below.

I did just watch the winning video and I was quite surprised. A nice performance, but that's about it. I suppose I have spent too much time watching teens play with more riveting intensity and dynamic drive. But this is precisely the problem of having the public vote. It's a popularity contest where popularity has many dimensions. Indeed, all panels of judges can have problems, but widening the franchise in a case like this does not necessarily produce better results.

Am I missing something here? Why Cliburn.org still says the winner will be announced on December 9th?

I was also looking for the info on the winner and can't find it anywhere. Where did you all hear the news? I've only seen it in this thread at Piano World.

Well, that was yesterday.

A dark horse is an understatement. She is playing piano well but with an intermediate level repertoire. I though the two gentlemen who played four Chopin Etudes or the Liszt Campanella demonstrated more agility. For a World Wide competition you would think that a slightly more advanced repertoire would have been presented.

Just vice versa - nothing wrong with repertoire, but quite "intermediate" level of playing.

I think that would be my view as well.

I HOPED SO.

The "Rules" included quite an odd rule: The organization had the discretion to change the rules.
They were free to do whatever they wanted.

I thought the main thing this meant was that they would make sure the winner was worthy, by simply ignoring the votes of an unworthy would-be winner.

You didn't get an e-mail announcing the winner? It was sent out last night, a little before 9 P.M. eastern time.

The "winner" is a woman named ChooHooi Khoo.

BTW.......I don't think I'm doing a very good job concealing my feelings.

For anybody who hasn't been able to see the news release, here it is:

>>VAN CLIBURN FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES WINNER OF SECOND YOUTUBE CONTEST FOR AMATEUR PIANISTS

RECORD-BREAKING NUMBER OF ONLINE PARTICIPANTS

FORT WORTH, TEXAS, December 9, 2009--ChooHooi Khoo, also known as Janice, has won the Cliburn's second YouTube Contest for Amateur Pianists by popular vote. Voting concluded on November 24, assuring Ms. Khoo a berth in the sixth International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, to be held in May 2011 in Fort Worth. Watch her performance of Schubert Impromptu, Op. 90, No. 4.

Currently a resident of Bakersfield, California, Ms. Khoo was born in Malaysia. She began her piano studies at the age of six with Thien Joe Goh. In 1989, she completed eighth grade piano at the Associated Board of the Royal School of Music (ABRSM) with high distinction, and subsequently received the Datuk I.K. Cheah Memorial Prize for her achievement. In 1991, ChooHooi Khoo immigrated to the United States with her family, and eventually received her Master of Physical Therapy degree from Loma Linda University in California. She continued to play the piano and sing at church, but music became an avocation while she raised two sons and pursued her medical career. Ms. Khoo is currently a full-time physical therapist and practice manager for a rheumatology medical office.

Describing her recent return to piano studies, Ms. Khoo remarked: "As my children got older, I encouraged them to learn music and my older son started taking piano lessons from Bonnie Farrer, who is the wife of John Farrer, the conductor of the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra. I hadn't heard of the Van Cliburn [International Piano] Competition until this summer when Mrs. Farrer returned from the competition and gave my son a program featuring the finalists...This reignited my passion for playing piano and our family was glued to the computer monitor watching the featured competitors on www.cliburn.tv. We even attended the first concert of the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra 2009-2010 season, featuring the 2009 co-winner of the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medal, Haochen Zhang!"

Ms. Khoo discovered the Cliburn's YouTube Contest only two weeks before the submission deadline. "With the encouragement of my husband and children, I decided to compete, even though I only had two weeks to pick a piece, to practice, to record, and to submit the video. During this time, my family and friends have been very supportive, although most of us thought that I was a long-shot, including myself. Even before the winner was announced, my husband ordered me a Steinway grand piano to replace my upright as a consolation prize for losing the competition and to encourage me to continue playing. Having won, I'm very excited about this opportunity to go to Fort Worth in 2011 and I want to use this God-given opportunity to practice hard (on my new piano) and thank those who supported me. I also hope to encourage my children through example, to practice hard and follow their dreams."<<

P.S. Not to be a sourpuss but speaking as a medical person, I think they erred in using the phrase "her medical career."

I have a feeling you might be inclined to agree with my above persnickety post.

P.S. I don't think there was any issue about her choice of repertoire. While indeed in itself it's not a highly impressive choice, I think a beautiful performance of the piece would arguably be a very worth winner.

I think you have it exactly right.

No I didn't get an e-mail, except the regular Cliburn e-notes mail which was sent on December 8th.

Huh......I don't understand why not. I imagine they tried to send it to everyone on their e-mail list, which would certainly have included all the contestants.

CF was not going to spend it's capital (i.e. an odd rule) in this case! Wait for the real event!



Life is not so simple... it's simpler!
It's all about marketing!
Single user could vote multiple times by clearing up "cookies" in his browser...
I'm not saying it was a fraud, but technically it was possible.

I did not get an e-mail as well, finally contacted Bob Ekelund to find out what was going on. Am trying to contact them to se why this happened.

As I said on the other thread, now you tell me!!

I thought that in order to get a ballot, you had to give an e-mail address. Do you mean that you didn't?

P.S. As I mentioned in my post on the other thread, I would hope that I wouldn't have used/abused that.

I think I had to give an email address, though I wouldn't swear to this.

Yes -- as far as I know, you did. There were two methods of voting that I was aware of, and they both seemed to require giving an e-mail, and the system "knew" if you had already done it.

I figured that the people who talked about repetitive voting meant that you could fool the system into not knowing.

I agree. Technically she seemed very good but I got very little emotionally from her playing.