“PIANISTS, ON YOUR MARKS”
The Christian Science Monitor
July 4, 2011

On a Personal Note is a poignant documentary about the New York Piano Competition, a five-day, no-elimination contest for 14-to-18-year-olds. The up-close filmmaking takes viewers inside a rarefied universe of aspiring classical performers and helps general audiences understand the mystery, the music, and the magic of serious piano performance. read more…

by Melvin Stecher and Norman Horowitz

It takes a lifetime of experience to feel secure when preparing an article, short story, or commentary on a particular subject that could be interpreted as controversial, or possibly vindictive. We feel, however, that these adjectives do not apply to our particular argument.

As pianists, educators, composers, directors of a highly successful school of the arts for 39 years, and now founding/directors of the New York International Piano Competition since 2002, we feel compelled to comment on the state of piano competitions accessible to participants worldwide. read more…

Winners of the 5th New York International Piano Competition
By Catherine Hampton
Publicist
June 28, 2010

June 28, 2010, New York City—16-year old pianist Kate Liu was awarded First Prize at the Fifth New York International Piano Competition, which was held at The Manhattan School of Music, June 21-25, 2010. Ms. Liu, born in Singapore and a resident of Winnetka, Illinois, received 6,000 for her accomplishment. In addition to winning First Prize, she was also singled out for her “Best Performance” of a required contemporary work, which this year was Avner Dorman’s Sonata No. 2: Il Agitato. Mr. Dorman, a noted Israeli composer, was on hand to present this award to Ms. Liu at the final awards ceremony. read more…

Nobuyuki Tsujii Triumphs with John Musto’s Bluesy Counterpoint

Roger Evans Online /Music, Humane Letter and Media

Rogerevansonline.com

June 7, 2009

As noted here before (and by Anne Midgette elsewhere), the Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Competition has taken a fresh approach to its presentation of contemporary works. In the event, many of the competitors have told interviewers that they chose a work from the four possibilities based on what they thought they could learn in time. And who can blame them? John Musto’s difficult “Improvisation and Fugue” thus was played by only one of the semi-finalists, Nobuyuki Tsujii. But that twenty-year-old not only took a gold medal but won the large cash award for the best performance of a contemporary piece for his crystalline interpretation of the Musto work. That he learned it in a short time and played it with confidence is a great tribute to him, and his winning shows the good judgment of the jury. He had been a clear audience favorite throughout.

The young Japanese pianist did not choose the Musto as his only challenging work by any means. He played hours of major works (including, among many other things, the Hammerklavier Sonata, a Schumann quintet, and concertos by Chopin and Rachmaninoff). He has been blind from birth.

The new work, which was commissioned by the Stecher and Horowitz Foundation for their own Fourth New York International Piano Competition held last summer, where it enjoyed some brilliant performances, can be heard in Nobuyuki Tsujii’s prize-winning version on Cliburn TV (at Semifinal Archive for May 31), and played by the winner of the Stecher and Horowitz competition, Allen Yueh, here. You will want to compare the two quite distinct interpretations.

“Stecher and Horowitz Foundation Goes Global”
Musical America
December 12, 2008

The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation announces two major changes in its biennial New York Piano Competition (NYPC). For the first time the Competition will accept contestant applications from outside the United States effective January 15, 2009 for the summer of 2010, a change in the procedures of accepting applications only from students (American or foreign) who were pursuing studies in the United States. With this development the 2010 Competition will be known as the New York International Piano Competition. In addition, it will expand its age category upwards from 14-18 years to 16-21 years read more…

“Norman Horowitz Interview”
American Express — Members Since 1958
December 1, 2008

What is/was your profession?
Concert pianist, educator, director of The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation, a non­profit organization. The flagship program is the New York International Piano Competition. read more…

“Lancaster Mennonite Pianist Wins Again”
New Era
June 25, 2008
By Stephen Zook

A Lancaster teen won an international piano competition last week, and is already competing in another.

Xiaopei Xu, 17, is in New York City competing in the Fourth New York Piano Competition after she won a similar contest in Washington, D.C. read more…

Boulder piano student tapped for NYC competition

By Wes Blomster

Daily Camera

Boulder, CO

June 22, 2008

It’s a competition where everyone wins; there are no losers. “We downplay the whole idea of competitiveness,” says Melvin Stecher, who with Norman Horowitz, his duo-piano partner of 35 years, founded the New York Piano Competition in 2002.

“These kids have worked so hard; why eliminate some of them in every round of the program.

“Everybody stays with it to the end — for a full week — and, at the least, takes home a prize of $1,250.”

Among the “winners” in the fourth session of the semi-annual program is Leann Osterkamp, who just finished her junior year at Boulder High School.

Leann — daughter of Kaye and Jeff Osterkamp, of Boulder — leaves for New York today.

She is one of 22 finalists, selected from more than 100 pianists ages 14 to 18, who will be in the city for the competition.

“My mother heard about the program,” Leann says. “We put together a CD of half a dozen pieces and sent it off to New York with photos.”

The winner of numerous awards and prizes, Leann looks forward to the week at the Manhattan School of Music.

“I think competitions are good,” she says. “They put pressure on you to reach a level that you wouldn’t achieve otherwise.”

And she hasn’t been troubled by stage fright for years.

“That’s a stage,” she says, “and it’s now behind me.”

Leann, who is currently working on Tchaikovsky’s famous B Flat Concerto with Doris Lehnert, describes the New York program.

“The first two rounds are solo,” she says. “The second must include ‘Improvisation and Fugue,’ a new work by John Musto, commissioned for the competition.”

In the third round Leann plays the first movement of a concerto, accompanied by a second pianist.

“In the fourth and final round I playa work for piano, four hands,” she says. “Partners are chosen by lot when we arrive.”

An evening seminar with Musto is part of the week. “This gives us a chance to talk about his piece and find out what went into it,” she says.

“John is an outstanding composer, and this is a marvelous work,” Stecher says. “It will serve these kids well as an audition piece when they apply for college.”

Monetary awards total $40,000, and first- through fourth-place winners will be presented in full-evening recitals during the coming year.

“Participants will work individually with the judges,” Stecher says. “We see ourselves not as managers, but rather as mentors for these young artists.”

The pianists will learn about the importance of image, of the very way they walk on stage and how they dress.

“Many of them are naive kids,” Stecher says. “They don’t even think about having an encore ready in case they need one.”

Among the 2008 judges are pianists Ian Hobson, Tong-II Han, Andre-Michel Schub, Susan Starr and Jeffrey Swann.

At Boulder High, Leann is pianist in the chamber orchestra. Last year she performed Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” with the school’s larger symphonic ensemble.

She knows she will study music after high school but has not yet chosen between conservatory and university programs.

“I love to perform,” she says, “but I’m equally interested in music theory.”

And she also loves jazz — not just Bach and Beethoven.

Lehnert was not accepting new students when Kaye Osterkamp asked her to recommend a teacher for Leann.

“I told her that I’d listen to Leann, who was 8 at the time, and give her some advice,” Lehnert says.

“Then Ozzi said that if Leann was talented I should take her.”

(Doris and her violinist husband, Ozzi, are both members of the music faculty at the University of Colorado.)

Today Lehnert looks with surprise – and admiration — at the dedicated and devoted student Leann has become.

“She loves music more than even I can imagine!” Lehnert says. “She’s a full-time high-school student and yet she practices five hours a day.

“I couldn’t do that myself.”

“So Young, So Talented”
Midweek
June 18, 2008
By Alice Keesing

‘Playing from the heart,’ plus long hours of practice, earn Honolulu teens Maile Cha and T.J. Tario a place in next week’s prestigious New York Piano Competition.

T.J. Tario couldn’t wait for summer. Summer means more time to play the piano, that is. At just 14, this musical whiz happily spends as many as l0 hours a day practicing his craft. read more…

“Take Note: Gifted young pianists head for prestigious competition in New York”
Star-Bulletin
June 16, 2008
By Nancy Arcayna

T.J. Keanu Tario spends his Sunday afternoons tickling the ivories at local retirement homes.

It’s a really good feeling when I play for the elderly because they really appreciate my playing, even if I make mistakes,” he said. “After I finish playing for them, I just feel very warm inside. It feels very rewarding.” read more…