Czech pianist Lukáš Vondrá?ek was announced as the winner of the 12th Unisa International Piano Competition in front of a packed ZK Matthews Great Hall at Unisa on Saturday 04 February 2012. It was the 30th celebration of international music competitions at Unisa.
Lukáš Vondrá?ek impressed jury and audience alike with an impressive performance of Mozart’s Concerto no 23 in A major as well as Rachmaninov’s Variations on a Theme of Paganini in the final round of this prestigious event, thereby winning another R24 000 on top of the First Prize of US$35 000, proudly sponsored by Vodacom.
Mr Vondrá?ek also won the Unisa Grand Prize of R250 000 as well as prizes for the best performance of the South African composition Dazzle by Peter Klatzow and the best recital in Round 3. His total prize money amounts to an astonishing R546 500. He will return to South Africa for a concert tour in 2013.
The only female competitor, Korean Heejae Kim, won the second prize, Stanislav Khristenko the third prize, Italian Sebastian Di Bin fourth prize, Enrique Bernaldo de Quiros from Spain the fifth prize and Christopher Janwong McKiggan from the United Kingdom sixth prize.
The South African 2nd prize winner of last year’s 5th National Piano Competition, Megan-Geoffrey Prins, was announced as the best South African competitor, winning a new Dietmann piano. He also received the special prize for the best performance of the South African composition Toccate by Graham Newcater.
Following the tradition of promoting local creative talent at the Unisa Music Competitions, two South African compositions have been commissioned by the SAMRO National Endowment for the Arts. Each competitor had to choose, as part of their repertoire for Round 1, either Dazzle by Peter Klatzow or Toccata by Graham Newcater.)
The winner of the 2011 National Piano Competition, Jan Hugo, withdrew from the international competition.
Luka Okrostsvaridze from Georgia won the special prize for the best semi-finalist who
did not go through to the final round. It was the first time that this prize was awarded.
The final round was divided into two parts. Part one contained Mozart concerti as well as Beethoven’s concerto no 1 and part two contained larger scaled concerti such as those by Schumann, Liszt, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky.
The six finalists, all from different countries, played nine different piano concerti in the final round of the prestigious competition with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra. The finalists were Enrique Bernaldo de Quiros (Spain), Sebastian Di Bin (Italy), Stanislav Khristenko (Russia), Heejae Kim (Republic of Korea), Christopher Janwong McKiggan (UK) and Lukas Vondracek (Czech Republic).
An international panel of experienced adjudicators had been invited by John Roos, Artistic Director of the Unisa International Music Competitions since 1982. They included the internationally celebrated Hungarian concert pianist and conductor, Tamás Vásáry (79) from Hungary. This child prodigy is still going strong and participated in the 2011 Beijing Piano Series Concert in October last year, along with, among others, famous artists such as pianist Murray Perahia and cellist Misha Maisky.
The other members of the jury were Achilles Delle Vigne (Argentine), Andrey Pisarev (Russia), Avidahan Prat (USA), John Roos (Unisa), Nina Schumann (South Africa), Dame Fanny Waterman from the UK, who has adjudicated in South Africa before), Arisa Voges (Unisa, non-voting chairperson), Eleanor Wong (Hong Kong) and Ramzi Yassa (Egipt).
Prof Mandla S Makhanya, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Unisa and Prof Kobie Kleynhans, Vice-Principal: University Estates and Finance thanked John Roos, Deputy Director of the Unisa Music Foundation for his contribution to raise the Unisa International Music Competitions to world-class standards. This was the last competition he organised, since he will retire in June.
The Unisa Grand Prize has now been named the John Roos Unisa Grand Prize in honour of his dedication to furthering music over 30 years. He built and raised the standard of international as well as national music competitions (which he started a few years ago to give local musicians something to work for and prepare them for competitions and and the stage) to compete with the best in the world. This also led to making South Africa a popular concert destination for foreign musicians.
The main prizes of the competition were sponsored by Vodacom. “Vodacom has been a proud supporter of the Unisa international music competitions. The fact that the association has existed for more than 10 years indicates the mutual benefit and respect that has characterised the relationship. We were particularly pleased to have been able to be involved in the latest version of the competitions and we take this opportunity to wish the organisers much success in the future,” reported Mthobi Tyamzashe, Executive Director: Corporate Social Investment, Vodacom.
The next music competition organised by the Unisa Music Foundation will be the Southern African Wind Competition in 2013.
Enquiries: Alet Joubert
Unisa Music Foundation
Tel: 012 429 3336/3311
Cell: 084 763 4079
www.unisa.ac.za/musicfoundation