Print Press Release

  NEWS

from Young Concert Artists, Inc.

SEVEN FIRST PRIZE WINNERS CHOSEN
IN FINALS OF 2005 YOUNG CONCERT ARTISTS
INTERNATIONAL AUDITIONS
 

New York, New York January 18, 2005— Seven young musicians won First Prize in the 2005 Young Concert Artists International Auditions.  The new YCA Artists were chosen from thirteen musicians in the Finals of the 2005 Young Concert Artists International Auditions on January 15, 2005 by a distinguished jury of musicians at the 92nd Street Y.  The winners are Efe Baltacigil, 26-old Turkish cellist; Philippe Castagner, 25-year-old American/Canadian tenor;  Jennifer Check, 28-year-old American soprano; Gleb Ivanov, 22-year-old Russian pianist; the Jupiter String Quartet (Nelson Lee, 25-year-old American violinist, Meg Freivogel, 24-year-old American violinist, Liz Freivogel, 27-year-old American violist, and Daniel McDonough, 25-year-old American cellist); Dora Seres, 24-year-old Hungarian flutist; and Wonny Song, 26-year-old Canadian pianist.   These artists were selected out of 300 applicants hailing from 43 countries.

Each winner was awarded a $5,000 career development grant, debut recitals in the 2005-2006 Young Concert Artists Series in New York and Washington D.C. , a debut recital at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston , and joins the management roster of Young Concert Artists, Inc., which has been discovering and launching the careers of extraordinary musicians since 1961.  Young Concert Artists, Inc. provides management services, concert engagements, publicity, and career development for three or more years.

The members of the Jury for the Final Auditions were Sanford Allen (violin)*, Jesse Levine (viola/conductor)*, Karen Lindquist (harp)*, Marya Martin (flute)*, Robert Martin (cello)*, Lorraine Nubar (voice), Constantine Orbelian (conductor/piano), Daniel Phillips (violin)*, James Sinclair (conductor), Paul Sperry (voice), James Tocco (piano), Susan Wadsworth (Chairman), and Diane Walsh (piano)*.

The Semi-Finals Jury also included Toby Appel (viola)*, Neal Goren (piano/voice/conductor), Wu Han (piano), Nina Svetlanova (piano), and Charles Wadsworth (piano).

The other six Finalists were awarded Second Prize and a cash award of $1,000.  They are Heorhi Garik Anishchanka, cellist; Hyo Jee Kang, pianist; Haik Kazazyan, violinist; the Parker String Quartet (Daniel Chong, violinist; Karen Kim, violinist; Jessica Bodner, violist; Kee-Hyun Kim, cellist); Jemima Phillips, harpist; and Russell Thomas, tenor.

The Young Concert Artists International Auditions are unlike any other competition. There are no rankings, and any number of winners can be selected. The sole criteria are musicianship, virtuosity, communicative power, individuality and readiness to begin a concert career.

At the Auditions, Efe Baltacigil was awarded the Peter Jay Sharp Prize, which will present his New York debut, and the Washington Performing Arts Society Prize, which will co-present his Young Concert Artists Series debut at the Kennedy Center .  Mr. Baltacigil currently holds the post of Assistant Principal Cellist with the Philadelphia Orchestra.  He has played the Brahms Sextet in Carnegie Hall with Pinchas Zukerman and Yo-Yo Ma and participated in Mr. Ma’s Silk Road Project concerts.  He received a Bachelor's degree from the Mimor Sinan University in Istanbul and an Artist’s Diploma from the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia in 2002. 

At the Auditions, Philippe Castagner was awarded The Rhoda Walker Teagle Prize by John French III, which will sponsor his New York debut concert next year.  He was also awarded the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival Prize by Marya Martin, the Festival’s director, for an engagement at the Festival.  Mr. Castagner is currently a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and will appear at the Met later this season as Beppe in I Pagliacci. 

At the Auditions, Jennifer Check was awarded the John Browning Memorial Prize, a career development award. The New Jersey native completed the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program in the spring of 2003 and won the Zarzuela Prize in the 2003 Operalia competition, sponsored by Plácido Domingo.  She made her Met debut as Clotilde in Norma and sang the role of Liú in Turandot with the Met in the Parks.  Ms. Check made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2001 in Handel’s Messiah.  She has also performed with the Marilyn Horne Foundation, Spoleto USA , and the Verbier Festival. 

At the Auditions, Gleb Ivanov was awarded The Peter P. Marino Debut Prize, which will sponsor his New York debut, The Fergus Prize, The Gulbenkian Foundation Concert Prize, The Slomovic Orchestra Soloist Prize for an engagement with orchestra, and The Princeton University Concerts Prize.  Mr. Ivanov comes from a musical family: siblings are a pianist, a cellist, and a harpist, and he began to accompany his father’s vocal recitals at the age of seven.  He has received scholarships from the Rostropovich Foundation and participated in a tour with Maestro Rostropovich. 

At the Auditions, the Jupiter String Quartet was awarded the Jerome L. Greene Foundation Prize, which will sponsor the group’s New York debut next season.  They also received the Paul A. Fish Memorial Prize, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society Prize, the La Jolla Music Society Prize, the Alys Robinson Stephens Prize, and The Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival Prize for concert engagements.  The Quartet won First Prize in the 8th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2004, as well as Grand Prize of the 2004 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.  They are Graduate String Quartet in Residence at New England Conservatory in Boston . 

At the Auditions, Dora Seres was awarded the Summis Auspiciis Prize, which will present her New York debut next season, the Alexander Kasza-Kasser Prize, which will sponsor her Kennedy Center debut, the Orchestra New England Soloist Prize by conductor James Sinclair for an appearance with the Orchestra and the Usedom Music Festival Prize for an appearance in Germany .  Ms. Seres comes from Budapest where she attended the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. In 2004, she earned a Master's degree from the Munich Hochschule für Musik.  She has won First Prizes in the Budapest International Flute Competition and the “Prague Spring” Competition. 

At the Auditions, Canadian Wonny Song was awarded The Claire Tow Prize by Leonard and Claire Tow, which sponsors his New York debut, and the Washington Performing Arts Society Prize, which will present his Washington , D.C. debut at the Kennedy Center .  He also received The Fergus Orchestra Soloist Prize for an orchestra engagement, and the Saint Vincent College Concert Series Prize for a concert engagement.  Mr. Song is living in Paris this year as a result of winning the Prix d’Europe in Quebec in 2003. 

Other prizes still to be awarded at press time are the Miriam Brody Aronson Prize; the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle Prize; the Fredericksburg Festival of the Arts Prize; the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Prize; the Naples Philharmonic Soloist Prize; the Pasadena Symphony Soloist Prize; and the Mary Van Nes Prize.

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* Y CA Alumna/us

Press Contact: Ann Binder  Telephone: (212)307-6655   E-mail: ann@yca.org