The Vendome Prize for Piano

Introducing our juror Charlotte Lee. ‘Charlottee Lee is the President and Founder of Primo Artists, one of the world’s leading international artist management agencies. She is recognized as an industry veteran with 25 years of leadership experience in artist management, entrepreneurship, advocacy, speaking and media. Based in New York, Primo Artists has a selective management roster comprising violinists Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Nicola Benedetti and Randall Goosby; pianists Beatrice Rana and Seong-Jin Cho; conductors Cristian Măcelaru, James Gaffigan, Christian Reif and Gemma New; and composers Valerie Coleman and Wynton Marsalis.’ You can see full bio at the link in bio! Please visit!

Introducing Jialin Yao, a semifinalist of the Alexis Gregory Vendome Prize in partnership with the Mannes School of Music! See below bio for more details. Jialin Yao, 24, has been a Prize-winner in numerous competitions such as the IKOF International Piano Competition, Friuli Venezia Giulia International Piano Competition, the Teresa Carreño Master Piano Competition, the Singapore International Piano Competition, the Steinway National Competition, the Shigeru Kawai International Piano Competition, the Santa Cecilia International Piano Competition, and many others. In 2018, as a distinguished artist of KNS Classical, Jialin released his first album, Campanella. In 2022, he was selected to the Soloist program of the Verbier Festival Academy. A sensitive and keen chamber musician, Jialin has a wide chamber music repertoire and has performed at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center’s Rose Studio and Église de Verbier. In 2022, Jialin and his VIA piano trio received the Juilliard Honors Chamber Music program. His chamber music mentors include Emanuel Ax, Jerome Lowenthal, Ronald Copes, Joseph Lin, Ida Kavafian, Augustin Dumay, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Mihaela Martin, and Mathieu Herzog. In 2011 Jialin entered the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing where he studied with Hong Fu. Since 2020, Jialin has received guidance from pianist Ruoyu Huang. After finishing his bachelor’s degree in China, Jialin moved to the United States to earn his Master’s degree at The Juilliard School, where he studied with Sergei Babayan. He is now continuing his studies with Maestro Babayan at Southern Methodist University, pursuing an Artist Diploma.

Introducing Dmitry Yudin, a semifinalist of the Alexis Gregory Vendome Prize in partnership with the Mannes School of Music! See below bio for more details. 22-year old Dmitry Yudin began his musical studies at Moscow’s Gnessin School of Music under the tutelage of Lydia Grigoryeva. He is a prizewinner of numerous national and international competitions, including the 15th International Scriabin Piano Competition, the International Classical Music Festival and Competition for Young Pianists, Astana Piano Passion, Vladimir Krainev Moscow International Piano Competition, and the Youth Delphi Games in Russia. Dmitry has performed across Russia and abroad both as solo recitalist and in concertos, with orchestras including the Rimsky-Korsakov Music College orchestra of St. Petersburg, the Baltic States Youth Symphony Orchestra, the Baltic Music Academy Symphony Orchestra, Musica Viva Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra, and the Tomsk Academic Symphony Orchestra. Dmitry has been invited to participate in numerous music festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival and the Tel-Hai Piano Master Classes in Israel, where he was awarded the Diploma for the Best Participant. Since August 2019, Dmitry has been studying with Horacio Gutierrez at the Manhattan School of Music, where he was awarded a full scholarship. In February 2022, he was the winner of the MSM Eisenberg-Freid Concerto Competition, which culminated with a performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2, under conductor George Manahan.

Introducing Zihao Wu, a semifinalist of the Alexis Gregory Vendome Prize in partnership with the Mannes School of Music! See below bio for more details. 26-year old Zihao Wu entered the Central Conservatory of Music in Gulangyu at the age of eleven. While in school, he received many scholarships (including the YAMAHA Scholarship) and performed on the nationwide broadcast for the China Central Television. In 2017, Mr. Wu entered the Cleveland Institute of Music as a student of Dr. Daniel Shapiro. He was accepted to the Master’s program at The Juilliard School in 2021, as a student of Maestro Sergei Babayan with whom he is currently continuing his studies at the Meadows School of the Arts in Texas(working on his Artist Diploma). At age fourteen, he gave a performance tour in Austria, Germany, France, and Poland, and made his debut with the Bydgoszcz Symphony Orchestra. This was followed by many performances with major orchestras in China. He has appeared as a soloist with the Xiamen Philharmonic at Fujian Opera house in 2017 and Qingdao Philharmonic at the Shandong Art Center in 2019, among others. At age sixteen he was invited to perform the complete Chopin Etudes in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other major cities in China. Mr. Wu was awarded a full scholarship to the 2019 Pianofest in the Hamptons, where he was an audience favorite. Engagements followed in New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans. Mr. Wu has been a prize winner in several national and international competitions such as the Hong Kong Chopin competition, and is the recipient of the Sadie Zellen Piano Prize in 2021.

Introducing Andrzej Wierciński, a semifinalist of the Alexis Gregory Vendome Prize in partnership with the Mannes School of Music! See below bio for more details. Polish pianist Andrzej Wierciński, 28, graduated with distinction from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice (2014-2019) and in 2020 received a Postgraduate Diploma with the highest grade from the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. He is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma in Performance at the Royal College of Music in London with Professor Norma Fisher, where he is a Reinhold- Blüthner Scholar. Andrzej is a recipient of the Krystian Zimerman and Yamaha Foundation scholarships. He has won 1st Prize in numerous national and international piano competitions, among them: Saint-Priest (2019), Masters Neapolitan in Naples (2018), Chopin “Golden Ring” in Slovenia (2014), Chopin Budapest (2014), and the National Polish Chopin Competition (2015). He is also a laureate of the Paderewski competition (Los Angeles, 2022) and the Hong Kong competition (2019). In recent years Andrzej has performed recitals in most European countries as well as in Canada, Dubai, Indonesia and Japan (where he accompanied the Polish President on a State visit, in 2015). He appeared in many prestigious venues, such as Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) and Łazienki Królewskie (Warsaw), and played with the Deutsche Philharmonie Merck Orchestra, the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Warsaw National Symphony Orchestra.

Introducing Julian Trevelyan, a semifinalist of the Alexis Gregory Vendome Prize in partnership with the Mannes School of Music! See below bio for more details. Julian Trevelyan, 25, is a British pianist who performs regularly throughout Europe and the UK. In the current season he has given five performances of Bartók’s 1st Piano Concerto with Musikkollegium Winterthur, and two performances of Lutosławski’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini for piano and orchestra with I Pomeriggi Musicali in Milan. Solo recitals have included performances of Beethoven’s Diabelli variations at Festivals in London, Cambridge, Munich, Paris, Switzerland and Vienna. His recording of Mozart’s piano concertos nos. 23 and 24 with ORF Radio Symphonieorchester Wien, conducted by Christian Zacharias, was released by Alpha Classics in October 2022. In April 2023 he was awarded the Silver Medal in the Horowitz Competition Kyiv-Geneva. Over the past five years, Julian has studied piano with Rena Shereshevskaya at the Ėcole Normale de Musique in Paris. He is a composer and conductor with Ensemble Dynamique, sings with an a capella group, and is an experienced chamber musician on piano, violin and viola.

Introducing Anthony Ratinov, a semifinalist of the Alexis Gregory Vendome Prize in partnership with the Mannes School of Music! See below bio for more details. Award-winning pianist Anthony Ratinov has been praised internationally for his “precision, crystalline sharpness and great inner energy” (L’Ape Musicale) as well as his “class, style, technical mastery and solo prowess” (Beckmesser). The 26-year old is the recent winner of the 2 nd Prize at the prestigious 64 th Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy, where his performance of Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto was lauded for “sporting a pianism at the highest level… with admirable dexterity and with stainless precision” (L’Ape Musicale). Anthony has won top prizes at many other international competitions – including the 1 st Prize at the 2023 Ricard Viñes International Piano Competition, the 2 nd Prize and Audience Favorite Prize at the 2023 València Iturbi International Piano Competition, and the 2 nd Prize at the 2022 Olga Kern International Piano Competition. Anthony began studying piano at the age of four with his grandmother, Edit Ratinova, who taught at the renowned Gnessin Music School in Moscow, Russia for 45 years and was a student of the school’s founder, Elena Fabianovna nesina. Anthony recently started studying at The Juilliard School in their highly selective Artist Diploma program, joining the studio of Robert McDonald. He completed his graduate studies at the Yale School of Music studying with Boris Berman and Boris Slutsky, and previously studied at Yale University, where he majored in chemical engineering and graduated with honors, in addition to studying piano with Wei-Yi Yang.

Introducing Yuzhang Li, a semifinalist of the Alexis Gregory Vendome Prize in partnership with the Mannes School of Music! See below bio for more details. 23-year-old Chinese Pianist Yuzhang Li was one of the ten semi-finalists in the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2021 and a Medalist in the Hilton Head International Piano Competition in 2022. Her performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra (after winning the First Prize in Futian Cup Piano Competition) was highly praised by Maestro Lang Lang, and reviewed by Shenzhen News as “a performance of such composed manner and maturity that exceedingly surpassed our expectation”. Yuzhang won the 2nd Prize at the Steinway Piano Competition in 2019 and the “Grotrian” International Piano Competition in 2017, the Special Performance Award at the Wiesbaden International Piano Competition in 2016, and the 1st Prize at the Seiler Cup Piano Competition in 2015. Her major performance engagements include concerts at the Wigmore Hall, Royal Academy of Music, Steinway Hall (UK), Bechstein KONZERTFLÜGEL in Germany, Yongsan Concert Hall in South Korea, and Central Conservatory, Sichuan Conservatory, Shenzhen Concert Hall, and HUAFA Performance Theatre in China. In 2017, Yuzhang was admitted with the highest score to the China Central Conservatory, studying with Professors Danwen Wei and Jiajia Shi. After graduating at the top of her class, Yuzhang received a full scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Professor Ian Fountain. In 2023, she received an offer to pursue a research degree at the Royal Academy of Music and began her doctoral studies, receiving support from the Tillett Trust.

Introducing Roman Fediurko, a semifinalist of the Alexis Gregory Vendome Prize in partnership with the Mannes School of Music! See below bio for more details. Born in Kyjiv (Ukraine) in 2004, Roman Fediurko entered Children’s Music School at the age of five, in the studio of Ghalyna Kocjuba. He is a Laureate and a Scholar of the New Names of Ukraine program by the Ukrainian Foundation of Culture, as well as the International Academy of Music in Liechtenstein. In 2021, he received the Scholarship for young artists from the President of Ukraine. Roman is now studying with Prof. Dr. Milana Chernyavska at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz (Austria). He has won prizes at many international piano competitions, such as the 1st Prize at the 10th Yamaha USASU International Senior Piano Competition in Tempe, Arizona, USA (2023), the 1st Prize at the Robert Schumann Competition for Young Pianists in Düsseldorf, Germany (2023), and the 1st Prize and the Gold Medal of the International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz in Geneva, Switzerland (2023). Roman has performed at Salle Cortot in Paris, Gustav Mahler Hall in Toblach, Kammermusiksaal of the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, Vortragssaal of the Tonhalle Zürich, Robert-Schumann-Saal in Düsseldorf, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Villa Senar in Hertenstein, and many others.

Introducing Robert Bily, a semifinalist of the Alexis Gregory Vendome Prize in partnership with the Mannes School of Music! See below bio for more details. Czech pianist Robert Bily, 26, was born in Ustí nad Labem. He is currently a student of Pavel Gililov at the University Mozarteum Salzburg. Previously he studied with Dirk Fischbeck in Halle (Saale) and with Jacques Ammon at the University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy“ in Leipzig. Bily is an award winner of numerous national and international competitions, including first prizes at the Ettlingen International Competition, the international “Anton Rubinstein” award in Düsseldorf, the international “Young Talents & Orchestra” competition in Milan, the Troisdorf International Piano Competition, the “Tadini” International Music Competition in Lovere and the International Music Festival in Paris. He attended piano masterclasses with renowned artists such as Emanuel Ax, Barry Douglas, Arie Vardi, Michel Beroff, Robert Levin, Daejin Kim and Vincenzo Balzani. He participated as a soloist at many music festivals including the Salzburg Festival, Georg Friedrich - Händel Festspiele and Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. He has given concerts with orchestras such as Bacău’s Mihail Jora Philharmonic Orchestra, Jugendsinfonieorchester Sachsen-Anhalt, Staatskapelle Halle, and appeared in prestigious venues including Georg-Friedrich-Händel-Halle in Halle, Die Glocke in Bremen, Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the Berlin Philharmonie and Teatro dal Verme in Milan. He has performed in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Italy, England, Spain, and Norway.

Are you ready?? Tomorrow we start our virtual semi-final auditions. Tune in on our Youtube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuXb0p097IEkAsBA6TGsyvA/videos Enjoy 3 recitals every day (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) starting at 11 am EST. Don't forget to vote for the Audience award!! #vendomeprize #Klavierhaus #pianocompetition #classicalmusic #royalacademyofmusic

Announcement of performance order for our London recording session 10/31! 🏆

Vendome semifinalist IVAN KRPAN