The 2018 Kerikeri International Piano Competition came to a close last night after five days of performances.
Fourteen contestants from around the world battled it out over two rounds on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with four finalists selected to play in the final which took place yesterday afternoon to a full auditorium at the Turner Centre, Kerikeri.
KIPC Finalists L-R: Shuan Hern Lee, Sunwha Kim, Katherine E Benson, Baichao Lan Photo: Jill Lancaster
The adjudication panel of Awadagin Pratt (USA) Soo-Jung Shin (South Korea), and Phillip Shovk (Australia) heard each finalist played a 40 – 45 minute recital of their own choice.
Shaun Hern Lee, winner of the 2018 Kerikeri International Piano Competition Photo: Claire@FlashGordon
16 year old Shuan Hern Lee from Australia won first prize playing works by Prokofiev and Chopin in his recital. Shuan is from Perth where he was initially taught by his father. At 14, he completed the Fellowship diploma (AMEB) and began tertiary music studies at the University of Western Australia and also at the International Piano Academy Incontri Col Maestro, Imola in Italy.
Katherine E Benson from USA took second prize. Katherine is from Jonesborough, Tennessee and has a Bachelor of Music degree; she is currently pursuing her Master of Music in Piano Performance Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she is active as a soloist, collaborative pianist, chamber musician, and teacher.
Katherine E Benson from USA was awarded second prize at the KIPC Photo: Supplied
Sunwha Kim from Republic of Korea was awarded third prize and Baichao Lan from China was fourth.
There were several other awards as well: 17 year old Lixin Zhang from Christchurch was the winner of the special Judges’ Prize.
Album Cover: Lixin Zhang Photo: Rattle Records
The Sonata Prize was awarded to Benjamin Goodman from Israel and the KIPC Trustees’ Prize to Jeremy So from Australia.
16 year old winner Shuan Hern Lee was the youngest contestant but has previously won first prize at a number of international piano competitions including the Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Russia, the Piano Competition for Young Musicians in The Netherlands and Junior E-Piano Competition in the USA.
He has performed with orchestras from Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia, USA and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
Watch him play Prokofiev's Toccata Op 11 as part of his solo recital at Callaway Music Auditorium at The University of Western Australia
