2021 Claudette Sorel Piano Competition judges (from far left) Eliran Avni; Father Sean Duggan; Brian Preston and Beverly Smoker; and some of the participants from the weekend event.
Hyeonuk Park, 16, of Lexington, Mass., and Jonathan Zheng, 15, of Bellevue, Wash., were named winners of the 6th Claudette Sorel Piano Competition on Nov. 7 at SUNY Fredonia.
Hailing from the East and West coasts, the young artists were outstanding examples of the 15 to 18-year-old musicians for whom the competition was created.
The event, which takes place annually on the campus of the State University of New York at Fredonia, is designed to encourage young pianists' growth in a healthy, supportive environment, and to allow them to demonstrate their own artistic vision.
Thirteen pianists from an international pool of 72 were invited to participate, with applicants coming from the United States, Canada, Israel, Mexico, Spain and Switzerland.
The Final Round of the competition, streamed live, was held at SUNY Fredonia's state-of-the-art Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall, with participants performing on a Steinway D Concert Grand piano named "Claudette" in honor of the competition's namesake. Due to the pandemic, not all invited participants were able to travel to the competition.
The First Prize, a $2,500 cash purse, was shared between Mr. Park and Mr. Zheng.
Three additional awards were given: Ian Cannon, 16, of Sugar Land, Texas, received the Audience Choice Award; Celine Chen, 17, of Valencia, Calif., the Debussy Award; and Emma Tio, 16, of San Gabriel, Calif., the Bach Award.
All participants will receive a live recording of their performance and a copy of the judges' written notes.
Judges for the 2021 competition were Fredonia School of Music piano faculty member and professional pianist and educator Father Sean Duggan; guest judges pianists and educators Brian Preston and Beverly Smoker; and Fredonia piano faculty member, pianist and Competition Director Eliran Avni.
Named for pianist and late SUNY Distinguished Professor Claudette Sorel, a member of the Fredonia School of Music faculty, who made more than 2,000 concert, recital, and festival appearances and played with 200 major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, NBC Symphony, and London Philharmonic, the competition also offers the Sorel Piano Fellows Program, now in its third year and curated for talented pianists (ages 15 to 18) who are serious about their craft and are looking for an intensive musical experience, but who may not yet be ready for the competition circuit. Twenty-eight national and international Fellows, from New York, New Jersey, Texas, California, Florida, Washington, Ohio, Illinois, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania in the United States, and Canada, Spain, Mexico, and Colombia, attended in person or virtually.
Generous support for the competition was made possible through a charitable gift by the Sorel Organization through the Fredonia College Foundation.
More on the competition can be found online.
