Max Sung – 2016 Cliburn Amateur Preliminary Round Recital

2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition
Preliminary Round
Van Cliburn Recital Hall

Max Sung, M.D., 63
Physician
New York, New York
United States

In the early ’70s, Max Sung was the beneficiary of a German Academic Exchange Fellowship to study piano with Helmut Roloff at the College of Music and Dramatic Arts in Berlin, Germany. However, the call of medicine was too strong, and he left after one year to pursue premedical and medical studies at Harvard University and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Since completing fellowships in hematology and medical oncology, Dr. Sung has been in full-time practice as a physician. He has continued playing the piano as much as his schedule allows and finds participating in amateur piano competitions stimulating. He was a semifinalist in the Chopin, Berlin, and Boston amateur competitions and a finalist in the Washington, D.C. amateur competition. A lifelong learner, Dr. Sung enjoys studying different cultures around the world.

Program:
BACH, Prelude and Fugue in D Major, WTC II, BWV 874
SCHUBERT-LISZT, Gretchen am Spinnrade

Mihono Kawamata – 2016 Cliburn Amateur Preliminary Round Recital

2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition
Preliminary Round
Van Cliburn Recital Hall

Mihono Kawamata, 47
Web designer
Yokohama City, Japan
Japan

Mihono Kawamata, a web designer from Yokohama City, Japan, began her musical education with private piano lessons at age 3, and as an adult has augmented her practice by participating in amateur competitions and master classes in Tokyo. Her dedication has paid off, netting Ms. Kawamata outstanding performance awards at the PTNA Piano Competition in 2013 and 2014. Other events she has attended include the Washington International Piano Festival in 2009, a master class with Michel Michalakakos (viola) of the Paris Conservatory in 2012, master classes at the Boston Conservatory in 2013 and 2014, a chamber music master class with Markys Placci and Andrew Mark, and a piano solo master class in Japan with Nikita Fitenco and Katerina Zaitseva in 2014. Away from the piano bench, Ms. Kawamata goes to the movies, travels, and enjoys cooking and fine food.

Program:
RACHMANINOV, Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Minor, op. 36 (1931): I. Allegro agitato

Madalyn Taylor – 2016 Cliburn Amateur Preliminary Round Recital

2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition
Preliminary Round
Van Cliburn Recital Hall

Madalyn Taylor, 66
Retail store owner
Ogden, Utah
United States

A mother of six and grandmother of 24, Madalyn Taylor firmly believes in making challenges. “They help you push yourself towards higher levels of achievement,” she says. While she took private piano lessons as a child and studied music for two years at Weber State University, Ms. Taylor changed her focus to raising her children and helping with her family business, a tire store, for 46 years. Since resuming her studies, she was won awards at the 2008 Seattle International Amateur Competition and the Bradshaw & Buono International Competition. She has studied with Eugene Watanabe, which she calls a highlight of her musical pursuits, and was a Cliburn Amateur semifinalist in 2011. In her downtime, Ms. Taylor’s large family consumes most of her time but she is also a seamstress and a professional candy maker.

Program:
CHOPIN, Mazurka in B-flat Minor, op. 24, no. 1
CHOPIN, Mazurka in B-flat Major, op. 7, no. 1
CHOPIN, Mazurka in F Minor, op. 7, no. 3
BACH-KEMPFF, “Siciliano” from Sonata No. 2 for Flute and Harpsichord, BWV 1031

Kazuyuki Ohmura – 2016 Cliburn Amateur Preliminary Round Recital

2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition
Preliminary Round
Van Cliburn Recital Hall

Kazuyuki Ohmura, 49
Software engineering manager
Tokyo, Japan
Japan

Kazuyuki Ohmura began studying the piano at age 3. Upon entering college in 1985, he began studying viola and joined an amateur orchestra where he gained valuable experience in chamber music performance. In 1991, he joined GE Healthcare as a software engineer. His passion for chamber music led him to begin studying piano again under the guidance of Utami Kaneko in 2006. One year later, Mr. Ohmura performed the complete Beethoven cello sonatas, and in 2009, he recorded the piano trios of Fauré, Saint-Saëns, and Ravel. In 2011, he won the top prize in the amateur division of the Chopin International Competition in Asia. He was a participant at the Cliburn Amateur Competition in 2011.

Program:
CHOPIN, Barcarolle in F-sharp Major, op. 60

Yumi Ahn – 2016 Cliburn Amateur Preliminary Round Recital

2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition
Preliminary Round
Van Cliburn Recital Hall

Yumi Ahn, 35
Attorney
Singapore
South Korea

Yumi Ahn began her piano studies at age 5. Originally from Seoul, South Korea, she moved to suburban London to study at the Purcell School for Young Musicians with Tessa Nicholson. From 1996–1999, she gave performances in London at the Purcell Room (Southbank Centre), St. John’s Smith Square, and Buckingham Palace for Prince Charles’ 50th birthday celebration. She received the gold prize at the Hankook Ilbo National Piano Competition (Korea) in 1990 and the concerto award at the Ealing Festival of Music (United Kingdom) in 1998. However, Ms. Ahn, an energy infrastructure lawyer practicing in Singapore, took a break from the piano for 17 years, and it wasn’t until last year that she resumed playing: She was inspired after watching They Came to Play, the documentary about the 2007 Cliburn Amateur Competition.

Program:
CHOPIN, Ballade No. 3 in A-flat Major, op. 47

Matthias Fischer – 2016 Cliburn Amateur Preliminary Round Recital

2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition
Preliminary Round
Van Cliburn Recital Hall

Matthias Fischer, 42
Physician
Würzburg, Germany
Germany

Born in 1973, in Bad Kissingen, Germany, Matthias Fischer received his first piano lessons from his parents at age 5. Throughout his childhood, he won prizes in the German youth competition, Jugend Musiziert, and briefly studied the piano at Munich Musikhochschule with Karl-Hermann Mrongovius from 1993–1994. One year later, he began his career in medicine as a student at the University of Würzburg. He finished his medical thesis in 2000 and pursued an M.D./Ph.D. thesis on mental retardation. Since 2007, he has been an assistant doctor and researcher at the university hospital for psychiatry in Würzburg. Throughout his work in medicine, however, Dr. Fischer continued to hone his piano skills. In 1996, he placed second at the first amateur competition in which he participated, in Utrecht, Netherlands, and he looks forward to this Competition and the possibility of playing with an orchestra.

Program:
RACHMANINOV, Étude-Tableau in E-flat Minor, op. 39, no. 5
SCRIABIN, Etude in D-sharp Minor, op. 8, no. 12

Robert Seppy – 2016 Cliburn Amateur Preliminary Round Recital

2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition
Preliminary Round
Van Cliburn Recital Hall

Robert Seppy, 58
Healthcare executive
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
United States

Robert Seppy began piano lessons at age 9 and went on to study at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and The Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts. Since 1993, he has worked at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as a charge entry manager. In 2011, Mr. Seppy placed first in the Music Minus One YouTube Video Contest. He looks to the Cliburn Amateur Competition as an opportunity to improve his playing, since it provides motivation to practice. He is also looking forward to meeting other like-minded competitors at this year’s event. Besides playing the piano, Mr. Seppy enjoys spending time with his wife and family. He also likes to attend concerts and values the increasingly important role social media plays in performing arts.

Program:
BACH-BUSONI, Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639
BEETHOVEN, Sonata No. 18 in E-flat Major, op. 31, no. 3: II. Scherzo: Allegretto vivace

Joseph Mercuri 2016 Cliburn Amateur Preliminary Round Recital

2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition
Preliminary Round
Van Cliburn Recital Hall

Joseph Mercuri, M.D., 56
Hospitalist physician
Saint Joseph, Minnesota
United States

Born in Washington, D.C., Joseph Mercuri came to Texas for his schooling, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance from the University of Texas at Austin in 1983 and 1986. He turned his attention to medicine, however, graduating from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1994, and then completing a residency in internal medicine in Wisconsin. Since 2001, he was been a hospitalist in St. Cloud, Minnesota. In the many years since he stepped away from music, Dr. Mercuri has come to realize how intrinsic it is in his life and he began practicing again six years ago. A 2011 Cliburn Amateur semifinalist, he looks forward to the chance to grow artistically and personally. When he is not practicing his repertoire, Dr. Mercuri is an avid amateur golfer who enjoys road biking and all that Minnesota has to offer—especially in the summer.

Program:
RACHMANINOV, Prelude in D Major, op. 23, no. 4
RACHMANINOV, Étude-Tableau in E-flat Minor, op. 39, no. 5

Joann Oh – Cliburn Amateur 2016 Preliminary Round Recital

2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition
Preliminary Round
Van Cliburn Recital Hall

Joann Oh, 41
Office manager
Irvine, California
United States

Born in Los Angeles, Joann Oh earned degrees in German studies and pre-med at Pomona College (Claremont, California) and Wesleyan University (Middletown, Connecticut). She was the winner of the Elizabeth Tishler prize in piano and a grant recipient of the Yale-Griffith Scholarship to study music and language in Vienna and Munich; in the former city, she studied piano with Rosario Marciano. Previously, Ms. Oh performed with orchestra in San Jose, California with the California Concerto Weekend Orchestra. Ms. Oh performed in recitals and participated in master classes at PianoTexas in Fort Worth this June. In addition to these honors, Ms. Oh was awarded a scholarship from the Korean-American Foundation for academic excellence. Currently a student of Anna Gliadkovskaya, Ms. Oh resides in Orange County, California, and works as an office manager. In high school, Ms. Oh was a nationally ranked synchronized swimmer.

Program:
LISZT   Concert Etude No. 3 in D-flat Major (“Un Sospiro”)
KORNGOLD   “Die Prinzessin auf der Erbse ” from Märchenbilder, op. 3

J. Todd Spangler – Cliburn Amateur 2016 Preliminary Round Recital

2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition
Preliminary Round
Van Cliburn Recital Hall

J. Todd Spangler, 54
Administrative law judge
Knoxville, Tennessee
United States

This year marks Todd Spangler’s fourth entry into the Cliburn Amateur Competition, having participated in 2002, 2004, and 2007. In his last appearance here, he was a semifinalist. Mr. Spangler received a bachelor’s degree in piano performance and a master’s degree in music education from Morehead State University (Morehead, Kentucky), before embarking on a career in law. He is a graduate of the Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University and, for most of his professional life, has worked in all facets of litigation. Currently an administrative law judge working with the Social Security Administration in Knoxville, Mr. Spangler enjoys outdoor summer activities such as cycling, devotes time to his church choir, and likes to read.

Program:
CHOPIN, Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, op. 52