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PianoForte’s 1st Adult Chicago Amateur Piano Competition was held June 24th through 26th. There were 58 competitors who played at the South Loop’s Sherwood Conservatory, now operated by Columbia College.

On Thursday afternoon I ushered for the preliminaries. My inclination was to get everyone seated during the two minute interval, which separated each 10 minute performance, and then stand outside the door like a “gatekeeper” to keep disruptors to a minimum.

Friday morning there was another usher, so I listened to some of the preliminaries.. All the contestants were very good except one who I won’t name. After the lunch break Friday I resumed ushering. I made a point to sit in the hall for: Joan Zarry playing some Scarlatti and piece by Layrsa Kusmenko called “In Memoriam to the Victims of Chernobyl”; Hideya Suzuki playing Debussy Preludes and Images; Hiroko Ohtani playing three pieces by Poulenc and finally Kotomi Suzuki (Ms Hideya) playing the Allegro Moderato of Prokofiev’s sonata #6.

Practice rooms on the second floor of the Sherwood Conservatory were my business Saturday afternoon. This was a good opportunity to meet and talk with the semi-finalists, but I didn’t have a chance to hear any of their 20 minute programs. There were also quite a few pianists who weren’t still in contention who wanted to have a piano to practice on. I managed to find them and open room.

Saturday night there was social gathering with beer and snacks at Curtis Hall on the 10th floor of the Fine Arts Building up the street from Sherwood. Thomas Zoells also arranged for a local Blues pianist to entertain us during the eats. Later, there was no shortage of pianists to tickle the ivories to let enjoy music until the 10:00pm shut-down time.

Sunday morning at the Fazioli Salon in the Fine Arts Building, sixteen competitors volunteered to play “gratis”, i.e. just for the enjoyment. I was anointed master of ceremonies for being there on time. About half way through the performances, brunch showed up on carts brought up via the (in)famous last remaining manually operated elevators in the city.

After a little cleaning up at The Fazioli Salon in the Fine Arts Building, I went down to hear the finalists at Sherwood. The balcony was open, so that’s where I planted myself, up by the judges. Unfortunately, due to timing, I missed the ultimate winner, Victoria Bragin. Others who made the final cut were wonderful. Sebastian Huydts, the chairman of the judges commented to me in the men’s room that everyone at this level deserves notoriety. I agree.

On Sunday evening the PianoForte Foundation hosted gala dinner at Cafe Absinthe in Wicker Park. Quite a few competitors who didn’t need to catch flights out until Monday morning were there. Food, drinks and conversation with tablemates from Toronto were great.

Here are new friends who I met at this competition:
Karmjeet Bindra
Rhea Borja http://www.linkedin.com/in/rheaborja
Victoria Bragin http://www.victoriabragin.com/
Louis Dalaveris http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1Iaogj42Dg
Damira Feldman http://mirafeldman.com/default.aspx
Jason Klein
Cathryn Lai http://www.oberlin.edu/con/bkstage/199912/lai_cathryn.html
Esfir Ross http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRNEfl7R5-I
Anne-Marie Rouchon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2FS5wrmP8w
Hidea Suzuki
Kotomi Suzuki
Joseph Wearing
Carol Wilson
Joan Zarry http://www.facebook.com/people/Joan-Zarry/1467383579

I think some video and sound recordings may be available soon at http://chicagopianocompetition.org/home/
–
Bruce