The Thomas & Evon Cooper International Competition

11/14/2023

Congratulations to violinist Joshua Brown, Violinist, 2015 Cooper Competition Second Prize winner—Joshua has won the $100,000 first prize at Beijing’s Global Music Education League Competition!

Read more!

The violinist's performance of Brahms Violin Concerto on 13 November won him the top cash prize, the Gold Medal, plus a prize package of performances and management

09/04/2023

Congratulations to violinist Seohyun Kim, 2022 Cooper International Competition first prize winner, on her first place success at the 2023 Tibor Varga Violin Competition!

The 14-year-old, from South Korea, was the competition's youngest candidate and received CHF20,000

08/10/2023

2023 Cooper Competition 3rd place winner, Taige Wang, has generously donated his prize money to the 2024 Oberlin Piano Festival! ClevelandClassical has written more about his surprising and thoughtful gift in their review of Friday's concert.
https://clevelandclassical.com/cooper-piano-competition-final-round-with-the-cleveland-orchestra-aug-4

08/09/2023

We are so pleased to share some behind the scenes and post concert photos of our amazing finalists! Their love for their craft was evident not only during performances, but all week long.

08/05/2023

Congratulations to all finalists in the 2023 Cooper Competition! First Prize was awarded to both Sophia Shuya Liu (Montreal, Quebec, 14) and Pyotr Akulov (Moscow, Russia, 16) and Third Prize was awarded to Taige Wang (New York, New York, 13). We would like to thank once again Thomas & Evon Cooper, the competition's generous sponsors, for giving us the opportunity to hear such incredible pianists perform this week.

08/04/2023

Scenes from today's master classes. There is still time to buy tickets for the Final Concerto Round at https://www.clevelandorchestra.com/attend/concerts-and-events/2324/other-events/cooper-piano/

08/04/2023

Many thanks to Cleveland Classical for their review of Wednesday's Concert Round. Read the article at the link below:

Download article as PDFby Daniel Hathaway Andrew Sijie Li, 15, from Boston, Canada & Hong Kong, led off the Wednesday afternoon piano-with-piano session with an assured performance of Beethoven’s Concerto No. 3 in c. The opening movement was grand, the slow movement had a lovely vocal quality, and...

08/04/2023

Tonight’s the night! Buy tickets at https://www.clevelandorchestra.com/attend/concerts-and-events/2324/other-events/cooper-piano/ for the Final Concerto Round tonight at 7:30pm.

08/04/2023

Today the finalists visited Severance Music Center to choose which piano they will use for the Final Concerto Round and to meet with maestro David Robertson. More information about tomorrow’s final round at www.oberlin.edu/cooper

08/03/2023

Scenes from the master class with jury member Angela Cheng. Come watch the next master class with jury member Boris Slutsky at 3:30pm in Clonick Hall.

08/03/2023

The Following Prizes were awarded this evening in Warner Concert Hall:

7th Prize
Filip Trifu, 18, Vienna | Austria
R. SCHUMANN Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54

6th Prize
Seoeun Lee, 14, Suwon, Gyeonggi, South Korea
F. CHOPIN Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 11

5th Prize
Andrew Sijie Li, 15, Boston, Massachusetts | Canada & Hong Kong
L. V. BEETHOVEN Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37

4th Prize
Yanyan Bao, 16, Zhuhai, Guangdong | China
F. CHOPIN Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21

Audience Prize
Pyotr Akulov, 16, Moscow | Russia
F. LISZT Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, S. 124

​​Three Pianists move onto the Final Concerto Round of the Cooper Competition and will perform complete concertos with the Cleveland Orchestra ():

Sophia Shuya Liu, 14, Montreal, Quebec | Canada
C. SAINT-SAENS Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22

Taige Wang, 13, New York, New York | United States
S. RACHMANINOFF: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43

Pyotr Akulov, 16, Moscow | Russia
F. LISZT Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, S. 124
(describe who won 4th - 7th prize and also audience prize)

Buy Tickets to watch the Final Concerto Round in Severance Music Center, or watch online at www.oberlin.edu/cooper

08/03/2023

TONIGHT 8/2 on WCLV Cleveland Ovations (on-air and via livestream)

Performances from the Semifinal Round of the 2023 Cooper Competition for piano!

Featuring:
Andrew Sijie Li - F. CHOPIN Rondo à la Mazur in F Major, Op. 5

Sophia Shuya Liu - F. CHOPIN Variations on "La ci darem la mano" from Mozart's "Don Giovanni", Op. 2

Yanyan Bao - M. RAVEL Gaspard de la nuit, M. 55, I. Ondine

Xuanyan Jessie Gong - L. LIEBERMANN Impromptu, Op. 68, No. 1

Fuyin Liu - S. PROKOFIEV Sonata No. 4 in C Minor, Op. 29, I. Allegro molto sostenuto

Sawako Harada - R. SCHUMANN Abegg Variations, Op. 1

Filip Trifu - S. RACHMANINOFF Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 36, II. Non allegro and III. Allegro molto

Seoeun Lee - J. HAYDN Sonata No. 62 in E-flat Major, Hob.XVI:52, I. Allegro

Taige Wang - W. BOLCOM Nine Bagatelles

Yuhe Jin - L. LIEBERMANN Gargoyles, Op. 29

Pyotr Akulov - F. MENDELSSOHN-S. RACHMANINOFF Scherzo from A Midsummer Night's Dream

WCLV delivers timeless classical music all day, and jazz overnight.

08/03/2023

Concerto Round part 2!

Stay tuned for the announcement for the Final Concerto Round and 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th prizes.

08/02/2023

Concerto Round part 1!

Watch the remaining three participants perform their concertos with an accompanying pianist at 7:00 pm tonight in Warner Concert Hall or online at https://www.oberlin.edu/conservatory/on-stage/live-webcasts/warner-concert-hall-live-webcast.

08/02/2023

Scenes from this morning’s master class with jury member Stanislav Ioudenitch.

See the Concerto Round performances today starting at 2pm in Warner Concert Hall or streaming online. https://www.oberlin.edu/conservatory/on-stage/live-webcasts/warner-concert-hall-live-webcast

08/01/2023

After two days of marvelous performances, seven participants have been selected to advance to the Concerto Round of the Cooper Competition! Congratulations to these outstanding musicians. We look forward to hearing more!

Concerto Round Session I
2:00 p.m. Andrew Sijie Li
L. V. BEETHOVEN Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37

2:45 p.m. Sophia Shuya Liu
C. SAINT-SAENS Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22

3:30 p.m. Yanyan Bao
F. CHOPIN Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21

4:05 p.m. Filip Trifu
R. SCHUMANN Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54

Concerto Round Session II
7:00 p.m. Seoeun Lee
F. CHOPIN Concerto No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 11

7:45 p.m. Taige Wang
S. RACHMANINOFF: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43

8:15 p.m. Pyotr Akulov
F. LISZT Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, S. 124

08/01/2023

Scenes from Semifinals session #5: Our pianists have all played for our judges, and our six finalists will be announced this evening. More to come!

08/01/2023

Scenes from Semifinals session #4: Our last session begins at 2:00pm, and our six finalists will be announced at 6:00 pm this evening. Watch the performances in person at Warner Concert Hall or online at https://www.oberlin.edu/conservatory/on-stage/live-webcasts/warner-concert-hall-live-webcast

08/01/2023

The third Semifinals session was held last night. Performances continue today at 9:00am and 2:00pm, free and open to the public in Warner Concert Hall or online: https://www.oberlin.edu/conservatory/on-stage/live-webcasts/warner-concert-hall-live-webcast

07/31/2023

Scenes from Semifinals session #2: The performances continue with the third session which begins at 7:00 pm. Concerts are free and open to the public in Warner Concert Hall, or watch online at https://www.oberlin.edu/conservatory/on-stage/live-webcasts/warner-concert-hall-live-webcast

07/31/2023

Scenes from Semifinals session #1: See more performances this afternoon free and open to the public at Warner Hall beginning at 2:00pm, or view online at https://www.oberlin.edu/conservatory/on-stage/live-webcasts/warner-concert-hall-live-webcast

07/31/2023

Direct streaming link:

Watch live-streaming events from Warner Concert Hall at Oberlin College and Conservatory.

07/31/2023

Some stills from the rehearsals in Warner Concert Hall. The pianists take this time to choose which Steinway they will use for the competition. We are totally awed by the maturity and passion on display here. Stream the rounds live at www.oberlin.edu/cooper.

07/30/2023

Here is the 2023 Cooper International Competition order of performance for the Semifinal Round on Monday, July 31 and Tuesday, August 1. All times listed are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) or UTC −04:00.

VIEW THE STREAM AT www.oberlin.edu/cooper

MONDAY
1 9:00 am Andrew Sijie Li, 15, Boston, Massachusetts | Canada & Hong Kong
2 9:45 Jiahong (Ericsson) Lin, 15, West Vancouver, British Columbia | Canada & China
3 10:45 Antoni Kleczek, 16, Vienna, Virginia | United States
4 11:30 Sophia Shuya Liu, 14, Montreal, Quebec | Canada
BREAK
5 2:00 pm Chanhyung Park, 16, Seongnam, Gyeonggi | South Korea
6 2:45 Yanyan Bao, 16, Zhuhai, Guangdong | China
7 3:45 Harmony Zhu, 17, Cresskill, New Jersey | Canada
8 4:30 Xuanyan Gong, 16, Jericho, New York | China
BREAK
9 7:00 pm Fuyin Liu, 17, Munich, Germany | China
10 7:45 Lindsey Yang, 17, Temple City, California | United States
11 8:45 Sawako Harada, 16, Chofu, Tokyo | Japan
12 9:30 Filip Trifu, 18, Vienna | Austria

TUESDAY
13 9:00 am Lewis Fang, 15, Hopewell, New Jersey | Canada
14 9:45 Seoeun Lee, 14, Suwon, Gyeonggi, South Korea
15 10:45 Taige Wang, 13, New York, New York | United States
16 11:30 Yuhe Jin, 16, Shanghai | China
BREAK
17 2:00 pm Matthew Chang, 14, Bethesda, Maryland | United States
18 2:45 Pyotr Akulov, 16, Moscow | Russia
19 3:30 David Choi, 15, Los Angeles California | United States

The Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition at Oberlin Conservatory is dedicated to presenting an important international competitive opportunity to outstanding young musicians.

07/30/2023

The drawing for order is complete! Stay tuned for the semifinal performance schedule.

07/29/2023

Introducing Cooper participant Yuhe Jin!

Yuhe Jin was born in Liaoning, China. In fall 2020, he was admitted to the Music Middle School Affiliated with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, under the tutelage of Yunlin Yang. Jin has earned more than 30 national and international competition victories. Highlights of his recent competition achievements include Second Prize in 2023 Aarhus International Piano Competition in Denmark, First Prize in the 10th Steinway & Sons National Youth Piano Competition-Shanghai Regional Competition, First Prize in the 8th International Young Pianist Competition, Second Place in the 2021 Scriabin International Piano Festival China Competition, and First Prize and Jury’s Choice Award in the 12th Shanghai International Youth Competition. In 2020, he performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in a Beethoven 250th Anniversary Concert, and has since collaborated as a soloist with several orchestras. Also a composer, Jin has written more than 40 pieces.

07/28/2023

Introducing Cooper participant Harmony Zhu!
Canadian pianist and composer Harmony Zhu performs regularly at prestigious festivals and venues worldwide. In 2021 she became the youngest artist on the Young Concert Artists roster after winning the YCA International Auditions. Recognized as a Young Steinway Artist since age 10, Zhu has appeared with leading orchestras including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony, Orquesta Filarmónica de Medellín, Albany Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Illinois Philharmonic, Aspen Philharmonic, Hawaii Symphony, Peoria Symphony, and Amarillo Symphony, among others, under renowned conductors such as Leonard Slatkin, Marin Alsop, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. She opened the season for the Philadelphia Orchestra at age 11 and made her Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium debut on her 14th birthday.

07/28/2023

Introducing Cooper participant Lindsay Yang!
California native Lindsay Yang has won numerous prizes in competitions including the Los Angeles Liszt International Piano Competition, the 10th Kathryn Gawartin Chopin Competition, American Fine Arts Festival Competition, American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition, and the Liana Cohen Music Festival Competition. She most recently secured one of the five finalist positions in the 2021 Gina Bachauer Junior International Piano Competition. Yang’s major public performances include an appearance on NPR’s From The Top in 2021, her concerto debut with the Cherubini Symphony at the 2018 Music Fest Perugia in Italy, as well as two solo appearances in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in 2015 and 2016.