What it’s like hosting a Cleveland International Piano Competition contestant
Being a host family for a contestant in the Cleveland International Piano Competition is exciting, I confess. Planning to pick up Sean Chen at Hopkins International Airport this past Monday, I felt like I was going to meet a celebrity. After all, Chen, 22, studies piano at the Julliard School. He has already earned recognition having placed in other noteworthy piano competitions. Chen, born in the United States, was raised in California.
Luckily, another host was also looking for her contestant at the airport. She had a small bouquet of flowers and the contestant’s name printed on a large card. I was disorganized, frantically looking around the baggage claim area for someone who resembled Sean Chen’s picture. Both contestants arrived on the same Delta flight from Newark. Seeing this lean young Asian man waiting, I switched to the “mother hen” mode asking him how his flight was, if he needed anything, and apologized for being late. From the airport, we headed to a local favorite for lunch, then on to an ATM machine, drug store, and grocery store to pick up last minute necessities.
This year, 26 contestants from around the world qualified for the competition so 26 host families were recruited. The organizing committee held an orientation meeting for the volunteer host families last week in one of the Case Western Reserve University South Campus dormitories. At the meeting, I was handed a folder full of papers, schedules, lists of names, contact information, and biographies all related to the competition. The contestants stay in the dorm, a convenient location, because they have to be near the Cleveland Institute of Music to practice when not performing.
Tuesday night we were all scheduled to attend the Opening Ceremony and Reception hosted by a young entrepreneur in his huge private home in Gates Mills. Contestants, host families, event organizers and board members were present to officially kick off the two-week contest. My mouth opened wide as my jaw dropped looking inside his expansive home at a full sized pipe organ with entire wall-sized speakers for the sound system. At this gathering, performers, 21-30 years of age from all corners of the globe (Latvia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, China, Russia, Korea, Japan, Italy, Germany and here in the United States) officially selected their numbers to determine in what order they would play.
The piano competition started in Cleveland in 1975 under a different name — the Robert Casadeseus International Piano Competition. In 1995, the name was changed to the Cleveland International Piano Competition with young musicians convening every two years to play. Finalists earn prize money and the opportunity to perform with the Cleveland Orchestra. Winning the competition allows the musician to launch his professional career with a year’s tour of managed and scheduled performances.
When Chen walked on stage at the Bolton Theatre Wednesday evening, there was a Hamburg Steinway piano, almost nine feet long with a 60-inch wide keyboard, made of 20 different specialized woods but predominantly rock maple, standing there to greet him. Every Steinway piano is outfitted with a piece of Ohio — the cast iron harp (the bright gold piece under the hammers that strike the strings) is cast right here in Springfield, Ohio.
For Chen’s first round selections, Bach and Mozart sonatas, I listened attentively while quietly cheering him on. No one coughed, no one fidgeted, no one whispered, we were all focused on the music. Naturally I thought he gave a stunning performance, but what do I know about the intricacies of piano music? There were eight professional classical piano teachers serving as judges (one from the United States) in the audience and they had their work cut out for them. Each contestant plays two times in front of the judges to assure a fair evaluation. Good luck Sean!
The final round of the Cleveland International Piano Competition runs Fri 8/5 and Sat 8/6 @ Severance Hall. For more information and the complete competition schedule, visit http://ClevelandPiano.org.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Susan Schaul, who says the act of writing is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. The challenge lies in getting the pieces to fit together and make sense.
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One Response to “Hosting a phenom: What it’s like hosting a Cle Int’l Piano Competition contestant”
Beth
It was disappointing that neither of our competitors advanced to the semi-final round, but it was certainly exciting to be a part of the Competition, even in a small way!