Professor Alexander Braginsky's International Piano-e-Competition Joins Forces with Google
International Piano-e-Competition and International e-Piano Junior, under the direction Alexander Braginsky (piano), recently announced that Google Corporation has joined their list of institutional sponsors, which includes Yamaha Corp. of America and College of Liberal Arts of the University of Minnesota who, together with private foundations and individual sponsors, support the e-Competition in its mission to advance outstanding young pianists and to bring classical music to the worldwide audiences.
As stated in the agreement signed by Alexander Braginsky, professor of piano at the University of Minnesota School of Music and president of MIDI, "Google’s support is motivated by its wish to assist e-Competition in its efforts to use cutting-edge technology to promote great works of classical repertoire.” The e-Competition has committed to “assist Google to research better machine learning approaches to understanding media, especially as it relates to piano performance.”
The vast trove of performances accumulated by the e-Competition which uniquely combines MIDI files with video images will provide Google scientists with invaluable material for their research. This, in turn, could advance our understanding of what constitutes the uniqueness of each performance and how individuality can be identified incalculable terms.
The e-Competition is excited and proud to team up with one of the world’s greatest technology and information leaders in our continuing quest to bring cutting-edge science to help music enter the 21st century.
Since its inception in 2002, the International Piano-e-Competition and International e-Piano Junior Competition were held 10 times and highlighted many wonderful performers, many of whom are making important contributions to the world of classical piano performance and education. It is the competition’s mission to provide a stage for the world’s most promising young musicians, where they can be introduced to a wide audience. The competition prides itself on maintaining the fairness and high integrity of the judging process, as well as providing a friendly and nurturing atmosphere for the participants. The competition is committed to utilizing technology to further the art of piano playing.
The next International Piano-e-Competition for young musicians ages 35 and under will take place in Fairbanks, Alaska on the campus of University of Alaska Fairbanks, Davis Concert Hall, May 18-31, 2018. 24 contestants representing 15 countries will perform solo recitals, Schubert sonatas, chamber music and concertos with the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra in a series of public performances. The winner of the competition will receive a prize of $30,000 and concert engagements. Winners of the Second and Third prizes will receive $20,000 and $10,000 respectively. The international jury includes such notable musicians as Eduard Zilberkant, Alexander Braginsky, Fabio Bidini, Peter Donohoe, Robert McDonald, Akiko Ebi, Boris Slutsky, Arie Vardi, and Elisso Virsaladze. All performances can be followed from all over the world via live streaming and DisklavierTV.
The next International e-Piano Junior Competition for young musicians ages 17 and under will take place in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the University of Minnesota School of Music and at Orchestra Hall, July 6-13, 2019. 24 contestants will be selected after a preliminary round to come to Minneapolis to compete in three rounds of competition – Two Solo Sounds will be held at Ted Mann Concert Hall on July 7-8 and July 10-11. The Finals with the Minnesota Orchestra will take place on July 13, 2019, as part of the Sommerfest’s Day of Music. The international jury for the e-Piano Junior Competition includes Alexander Braginsky, Vanessa Latarche, Stanislav Pochekin, Jin Zhang, Angela Cheng, and Michael Kim. The winner of the competition will receive $10,000. The winners of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th prizes will receive $5,000, $3,000, $2,000, and $1,000 respectively. All performances will be broadcast via live stream and DisklavierTV.
