New York, NY (Jeffrey
James Arts Consulting) - The Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition has announced the results of its 2005 competition held in Kharkov, Ukraine between August 29 and
September 4. This year's competition featured 29 competitors from 16 countries around the world.
The jury did not award a Jordania Grand Prize, but did decide on two William L. Montague, Jr. Second Prizes - Harutyun Arzumanyan of Armenia and Matteo Pagliari of Italy. Third Prize was awarded to Christopher Chen of the United States.
Mr. Arzumanyan is a graduate of the Yerevan State Conservatory as a violinist and conductor. He founded the Armenian Chamber Orchestra and has frequently conducted at the National Opera and Ballet Theatre of Armenia. He was the first prizewinner of the 1999 National Competition for conductors and was 3rd Prizewinner of the 8th Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors in Katowice, Poland.
Mr. Pagliari currently holds assistant conductor positions to both Riccardo Frizza and Roberto Abbado. He has made many guest appearances with opera companies and orchestras throughout Italy and the United States. He holds a conducting degree from the Conservatorio Arrigo Boito in Parma, Italy.
Mr. Chen is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory and is currently Assistant Conductor of the Baltimore Opera. He is a frequent guest conductor in Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia and Finland. He was recently selected as one of eight conductors in the American Symphony Orchestra League's 2005 National Conductor preview.
As William L. Montague, Jr. Second Prizewinners, Mr. Arzumanyan and Mr. Pagliari will receive concert engagements during the 2006-2007 concert season with orchestras in Ukraine, the U.S., and other countries to be named.
Third Prizewinner Mr. Chen will receive a concert engagement during the 2006-2007 concert season with an orchestra in Ukraine.
The Orchestra Favorite prize was awarded to Boguslav Kobierski of Poland, who is the current conductor of the Etela-Karjala Sinfonietta of Finland.
The Audience Favorite prize and a special distinction certificate was awarded to Shigekazu Yonezaki of Japan, who is a regular guest conductor of many orchestras in his country, including the New Japan Philharmonic.
Jennifer Bailey of Australia was also a Third Round participant and special distinction certificate awardee. She is the Conductor and Director of the Orchestra at St. Mary Magdalen in Oxford, England.
Other participants in the competition included:
Kerim S. Anwar, a citizen of Canada who lives in the Czech Republic, Rihards Buks of Latvia, Shawn Eugene Burke-Storer of the United States, Timothy Dixon of the United States, Lawrence Golan of the United States, Yasuhiko Ishige of Japan, Vladimir Kern of Russia, Sergey Kiss of Russia, Maksim Kuzin of Ukraine, Sang-Hwan Lee of South Korea who lives in Austria, Tai-Wai Li of Hong Kong, Christian Lombardi of Germany, Octavio Mas Arocas of Spain, Paolo Paroni of Italy, Georgi Patrikov of Bulgaria, Benjamin Rous of the United States, Elior Sharivker of Israel, Yosyp Sozanskyy of Ukraine, Jin Tanaka of Japan who lives in Wales, Yasutaka Tsuda of Japan, Viatcheslav Valeev of Russia, Shin Watanabe of Japan and Alexander Zverunov of Russia.
The competition jury was composed of Jooyong Ahn of the United States, Yuri Alzhnev of Ukraine, Giorgi Jordania of Republic of Georgia, Joan McNeill Murray of the United States, Jonathan Sternberg of the United States and Yuri Suchkov of Moscow.
This year's Third Round Contemporary Compositions selections were a new orchestral work by Yuri Alznev, Christopher Kaufman's Island, Dana Paul Perna's Bucks County Ballad and Judith Lang Zaimont's Stillness - Poem for Orchestra.
The 2005 Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition was a great success, both artistically and as a means for continuing to bring the Kharkov Philharmonic Orchestra (https://www.jamesarts.com/KHRKVPHILWEBPAGE.htm) to the rest of the world. In addition to the lively competition, contestants also participated in a series of Master Classes and special events and enjoyed the opportunity to have individual and small group instruction and interaction with jury and orchestra members. Also important was the chance to meet and spend time with other conductors from around the world. More about the competition at https://www.jamesarts.com/VJKRKVCNDCMP05.htm.
Building on the great success of this year's event, planning for an expanded and even more international 2006 Vakhtang Jordania International Conducting Competition has already begun.
