NEW YORK (March 25, 2005) —
Mei-Ting Sun, the 24-year-old classical piano sensation currently pursuing his doctorate at the Juilliard School in New York, has been named First Prize winner of the
Seventh National Chopin Piano Competition by a jury of nationally and internationally acclaimed artists.
 Mei-Ting Sun concludes his final-round performance in the Seventh National Chopin Piano Competition, accompanied by the Florida International University Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Tadeusz Strugala. |
As in his previous competitive successes, Sun chose the Yamaha
CFIIIS nine-foot grand piano to propel him to victory. A growing number of classical artists play
Yamaha pianos, and the CF Series in particular is being used by a wide range of successful competition entrants.
“It’s always a thrill to win a competition against so many other great performers, and this time there’s the added emotion of going on to represent the whole country as a result,” Sun says. “It’s a little humbling, and I’m going to work hard to live up to it.”
Sun won the first
International Piano-e-Competition in 2002, in which contestants performed in the U.S. on a Yamaha Disklavier reproducing piano and their performances were captured digitally as computer data and sent via the Internet to an identical Disklavier in Hamamatsu, Japan. There, note-for-note performances were recreated and synchronized with high-quality video for “e-judging” by a segment of the distinguished jury.
In September, Sun will travel to Warsaw to represent the United States in the International Chopin Competition. His first prize from the National Chopin Competition also includes $20,000 in cash; a June 13 performance at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall; and a 20-city United States tour, arranged by the competition, which includes a recital at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
“Because of Mei-Ting’s emergence in the Piano-e-Competition we sponsor, and his formal association with Yamaha, we’ve been privileged to follow his career and talent,” says Yamaha Piano Division general manager Paul Calvin. “I know that he’ll make the most of this opportunity, represent his adopted country superbly in Warsaw, and make us proud for years to come.”
Sun came to New York from his native China at age nine to study at the Mannes College of Music. In 1996, he was named one of the “Musicians of the Year” by the
Village Voice for his performance of the Op. 10 Etudes of Chopin. At age 14, his performance of Ravel’s Concerto in G at Alice Tully Hall was praised by the
New York Times as a “stunningly fluid reading.”
Sun’s newest project,
whitekeys.com, is an outreach program designed to promote classical piano music among teenagers by making quality recordings available online for no charge.
In New York, Sun practices at
Yamaha Artist Services, Inc. on Fifth Avenue, where promising young artists have access to expertly maintained concert pianos and state-of-the-art performance, rehearsal and recording facilities. Sun is formally affiliated with Yamaha.
The National Chopin Piano Competition, considered one of the most important competitions in the world, is held once every five years. For more information, visit
www.chopin.org.
For more information, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Piano Division, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622, telephone (714) 522-9011, or e-mail
infostation@yamaha.com.
