NEW PALTZ –Vladimir Feltsman, artistic director of PianoSummer Festival/Institute at the State University of New York at New Paltz, is pleased to announce that Baron Fenwick of North Carolina is the winner of the 2011 Jacob Flier International Piano Competition. Second and third place winners are YuYoung Park, 21, of South Korea and Thomas Nixon, 25, of Ariz.
About the Winner
Baron Fenwick, 17, has been playing piano since he was six years old. He won numerous state and national competitions including first prize at the 2010 Lee University Piano Competition in Tennessee and top pianist at the 2011 Blount-Slawson Concerto Competition in Montgomery, Ala.
His statewide awards include first prize in both the 2009 North Carolina Symphony Concerto Competition Junior Division and in the 2010 Charlotte Symphony Youth Artist Competition. Also, Fenwick was the recipient of the first annual Leonard Bernstein award at University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2009.
Fenwick has enjoyed performance opportunities with the Western Piedmont Youth Symphony, the South Carolina Philharmonic, and the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. His performance of Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with conductor Erin Freeman and the South Carolina Philharmonic was described as “brilliant” by David Lowry of the Columbia’s Free-Times. “His driving rhythm, virtuosic technique, musical treatment and careful attention to the ensemble were all stunning. Put two or three more years on this young man, and we might well have a major star.”
Fenwick played the $1.2 million Kuhn-Bosendorfer piano at its unveiling in the Winston-Salem art studio of John Kuhn. He has performed at the North Carolina Governor’s Mansion as well as at the Washington Ballet Company Gala held in the Carnegie-Mellon Auditorium in Washington, DC. Fenwick has attended music festivals in Switzerland, S.C., Calif., Wis., and N.Y.
About the Flier Competition
The Jacob Flier International Piano Competition was established to honor the distinguished Russian pianist who taught for many years at the Moscow Conservatory, and who instructed generations of prominent musicians.
The winner of the competition performs with the Hudson Valley Philharmonic orchestra, and the second/third-place winners share a recital. In addition, all three winners receive scholarships to attend next year’s PianoSummer Institute.
About PianoSummer Festival/Institute
In 1995, internationally acclaimed pianists and artistic director, Vladimir Feltsman founded the institute designed for gifted piano student from around the world. While in residence at the State University of New York at New Paltz, these extremely dedicated students work with internationally acclaimed artists/teachers who represent a variety of teaching styles and diverse music ideologies.
For additional information about PianoSummer Festival/Institute at the State University of New York at New Paltz call 845-257-3860 or visit here.
