I'll take that bet !

OK.....you got a better theory?

P.S. If you find an authoritative answer and it's different from mine, I will gladly send you a few nickels. Provided of course that you post a valid mailing address.

I am wondering how Hakki is doing over there.

From what I heard, there were 7 semi-finalists, 8 quarter-finalists. Out of the 8 quarter-finalists, 3 made into semi-final for a total of 10 semi-finalists.

Can't wait to hear who are in final.

....and also pianovirus (Tobias).

Let's see if I can find out anything from their phone line......

Yes.....but we seem to be a day too late to find out who the semi-finalists were. (They never announce the quarter-finalists on the phone line, just semi-finalists and finalists.) The current message only lists the finalists. It sounds like neither of our guys made it (I can't be totally sure because the message is in French) but hopefully one or both got past the 1st round, which in itself would be a terrific accomplishment.

I don't recognize the names of any of the finalists (there are 6), but none of them sound like either of our guys. There are 2 finalists each from Canada and France, one from Germany and one from Japan.

Question for LA: Do you know anything about who made the quarter- or semi-finals?

I didn't get much details. I know Marisa H made 1/4final but didn't make into 1/2final. Besides her, I don't know of anybody else.

Is Antoni G (the one we met in Warsaw) one of the finalists?

(I think not....but anyway I don't recognize that name.)

So why is this concours so secretive? They have minimal information on their website. Not even the name of the participants!

I think the best way to play a piece, especially in an amateur competition, is in the way the pianist finds it most convincing. Trying to play a work in a style, French or otherwise (if there is such a thing), just to perhaps please the judges seems like it's not being true to oneself.

Is there some big money award for this competition? If not, why should there be a big need to win?

Are the judges heavily biased towards playing a certain way or are they hopefully more open minded and looking for a convincing performance?

My only comment on the OP's Youtube Mephisto Waltz performance is that the tempo for the introduction seemed quite a bit faster than I've heard most of the time. It almost seemed to be running away. Edit: I just listened to Horowitz, Rubinstein, Richter and Kapell. Horowitz and Rubinstein were definitely slower, the other two were close and Kapell might have been faster.

In the French style. LOL. Gosh, I just keep finding more and more to keep me amused here at PW...it's great.

I think that they just don't bother to do it.

Here are the name of 5 finalists:
Michael Cheung - Canada
Daniel Chow - Canada
Peter Hiss - Germany
Loïc LaFontaine - France
Nobue Tokudomi - Japan

I don't recognize any of them.

One name missing is Olivier Pairot from France. I'm just back after getting knocked out first round. Excellent experience over there, and very friendly competition. The final is later today, but think Daniel Chow must be favourite. His version of the strauss-grunfeld fledermaus paraphrase was simply unvelievable!

Sorry to hear you didn't advance.....as per what we've said, that's no crime.
It's not that easy.

I hope you still feel good about your playing -- and glad to hear it was still an excellent experience.

BTW.....why do you single out the Pairot guy? I guess you mean he's real good.....

[edit: OK.....I see from your next post that I just misunderstood about him. I thought you meant that he didn't make the finals.]

He was good, but I'd be surprised if he won, the Canadians were very strong this year, and the other French guy (La Fonatine) was very good also.

I was pleased I got through my pieces, and the vibe of the competition was very good. It was my first foray into something like this, so I didn't expect a great deal. However, I made a bit of a fool of myself, as somehow my glasses conspired to fall off during the first piece I played. A lack of posture skill, and a need for contact lenses! Still, it was for more enjoyable than I could have hoped for. Everyone very friendly. There seems to be a possee of people who travel to all of these events. It's inspired me to improve, and try again.

Thanks for clarifying about Pairot. (I misunderstood, as per my edit above.)

I don't think you made a fool of yourself -- stuff like that just happens.
One time when I was in the Concours, the piano bench was unusually lightweight, and a few measures into my first piece, my "energy" somehow kicked it backwards -- and for the rest of my time I could hardly reach the keyboard.

Hi everybody,

Does anybody know the results of the finals? I had to leave on Saturday and wonder who made it. I agree with DG64 - Daniel was in pole-position although I wonder what their definition of "amateur" is.

Cheers

LaFontaine won first prize, the audience prize, and the press
award. He was born in Martinique and lives in Paris now where he has a high position with Yamaha Artist Services Europe - an agency for classical artists.

Cheung of Canada was second.

I have just arrived from Paris, and as MarkC has mentioned before, I just loved it.
It was very friendly and really a fantastic event for me.

As for the results:

1st prize Loic Lafontaine France
2nd prize Michael Cheung Canada
3rd prize Daniel Chow Canada
4th prize (tie) Nobue Tokudomi (Japan) - Peter Hiss (Germany)
6th prize Olivier Pairot France

BTW I was not able to pass the first round.

Regards,

Hakki.

dg64, z-man - I was not aware there were other Piano World people besides Hakki and me in Paris! I may have missed you (?)... But it was cool to meet and chat with Hakki in real life!

In any case, in my opinion these days in Paris were absolutely great fun! I was happy with my playing in the first round, made it to the quarter finals, but was kicked out there. I would not have been able to play like the 10 people in the semifinals, so I found this decision absolutely fine. Btw, my vote for #1 and #2 were also Lafontaine and Cheung, respectively.

Since it was the first participation for me, I did not know what to expect and was surprised by the level of playing and careful preparation of the works. I'll certainly spend more time preparing for next year, and hope to see some Piano World folks again there

Cheers,
pianovirus

Hi Pianovirus,

I fully agree: it was great time there listening to all people there. I was really surprised to see/hear the skills people had. E.g. I didn't expect someone to show up with a piece like Strauß-Grünfeld as Daniel did.

I really enjoyed Hakki's Grande Polonaise. What a pity he didn't proceed. But I believe we could discuss long on jury's classification scheme ;-) . Did you play preliminaries on Thursday?

Yes, me too!!



Yes, Thursday noon! I'll send you a PM.

Chapeau to all you brave folks!
Congratulations and do even better next time.

Thanks, Andromaque!!
Here is a photo of the nice room in which the competition took place until the semifinals - maybe it motivates even more people to come to Paris to meet other piano amateurs

Thank you Z-man, pianovirus.
Z-man I wish we had met with you also, as I was very happy to meet with pianovirus in person at the competition.

BTW, I just uploaded my performance onto my youtube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbMWRE0yJvA&fmt=18

Regards,

Hakki.

Very nice to see picture and video. I might consider this competition for next year.

Now I want to ask: who is going to Chicago in June? who is going to Berlin in October?

das ish guett!!! super!!

Great pic, Tobias! BTW.....I assume that's you playing?
And thanks to Hakki too for the video.

Congrats to you for making the next round -- as we said beforehand, that's a great accomplishment, especially for your first competition. And congrats to all of you for participating.

Mark - yes that's me
Thanks for your nice comment!



I wanted to go, but found out I still have to wait until I'm 35 (their age limit)