Contestants Start Competing in NTD International Piano Competition

Saturday marked Day 1 of NTD’s 6th International Piano Competition, held in New York from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2. Contestants are competing at the Kaufman Center for a chance to win the first-prize golden trophy. Richard Yin, the managing director of the event, said the mission of the competition is to revitalize classical music back to the masterpieces from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, and to promote traditional arts of pure authenticity, goodness, and beauty. One of the requirements for the contestants is to play a commissioned composition. “This year’s commission piece is ... based on the original composition of the artistic director of Shen Yun Performing Arts, Mr. D.F. The differences are two. One is the technical level, which is much harder than previous years. And second is the length. Compared with the last two years, which are around seven to eight minutes, this year the composition will last for 13 to 14 minutes, which increased the challenge for all the contestants this year,” Yin said. Gabriel Landstedt, a contestant from Canada, said he's feeling “pretty excited, pretty relaxed actually, which is kind of surprising.” Hugo Alcazar, a contestant from Spain, said: “My feelings for now are very positive. There are many people around the world. This would be a great chance to expose yourself and show what you have inside.” Rita Calviello, communications assistant for the piano competition, said, “It’s really incredible because everybody brings their own self to this piece. You can feel their heritage, their culture come through in how they express the music.” Sunday is Day 2 of the preliminaries. The semifinals, finals, and winners’ concert will be open to audience members and livestreamed on NTD’s and The Epoch Times’ websites and social media channels.