Classical music: Two Madison teenage pianists don’t win the International Piano Arts Competition, but they do well and receive special prizes. Go inside the competition with a detailed blog account of every event.

By Jacob Stockinger

So, how did they do?

All weekend long, people have been asking me how the two teenage pianists from Madison – Ariela Bohrod and Garrick Olsen – fared in last week’s International Piano Arts Competition in Milwaukee? (The contest is held every two years and gets high marks for its educational value as well as its performances.)

Well, it took me a whole to find out. The biennial competition didn’t post results immediately on its website – despite the reputation for immediacy that the electronic media and the Internet enjoy. And I wasn’t aware of the blog that I link to below, thanks to UW pianist Martha Fischer.

A drumroll, please!

Three other contestants won the top spots.

But the results are in: Ariela Bohrod (below), who studies at Interlochen, won a special prize as a Wisconsin pianist.

Olsen, who studies with Madison teacher Bill Lutes, won a prize for the best performance of post-1940 American music, which was two etudes by the well-known “super-virtuoso” pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin, who was born in Canada but now resides and teaches in the U.S., at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

For more information about the Top Three prize winners, here is a link to the competition’s web page, which also has a link to videos of performances, profiles of the competitors with their solo and concerto repertoire, and a Facebook posting:

http://www.pianoarts.org/

Finally, here is a terrific and comprehensive blog, complete with videos and lots of photos plus detailed accounts and criticism of each performance, by Andrew Tisdel, that covers not only the results for the Madison contestants but also the entire competition and master classes:

http://pianoarts2012.blogspot.com/2012_06_01_archive.html

Please be sure to leave any Comments for the contestants or blogger in the COMMENT sections of this blog. I am sure both Ariela and Garrick as well as their friends, family and many fans, would appreciate reading them.

And stay tuned. The Madison contestants may have some personal remarks to share about being in the competition.

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Posted in Classical music
Tags: Ariela Bohrod, Facebook, Jacob Stockinger, Madison, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Rutgers University, United States, Wisconsin