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Students, Faculty + Alumni

Alumni success in San Antonio International Piano Competition

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Ryo Yanagitani '04MM, '05AD, '08MMA and Andrea Lam '04AD won major prizes in the Tenth San Antonio International Piano Competition. Yanagitani won the Gold Medal – the competition's top prize – and Lam won the Silver Medal. In addition, Yanagitani was awarded prizes for the best performance of a Romantic work and of a work by a Latin American composer, as well as the prize of the junior jury. Lam was awarded prizes for the best performance of a Classical composition and best performance of a Russian work.

As the gold medal winner, Yanagitani will appear in performances with the San Antonio Symphony, St. Mark's Music Series, and Symphony of the Hills (Kerrville).

The San Antonio International Piano Competition is a non-profit organization formed in 1983. Once every three years, it presents a unique series of events, held over a one-week period, featuring some of the finest young rising pianists to be found in the world of music.

ABOUT THE PIANISTS

Pianist Ryo Yanagitani has distinguished himself as one of Canada's most promising young concert artists. He recently garnered the silver medal at the Dr. Luis Sigall International Piano Competition in Vina del Mar, Chile, where he was also awarded the audience prize. In addition, he is a laureate of the Hilton Head International Piano Competition, the Minnesota International Piano-e-Competition, and the Hugo Kauder International Piano Competition.

Currently working towards the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the Yale School of Music under Boris Berman, Ryo has obtained a bachelor's degree in piano performance from the University of British Columbia under Doctor Henri-Paul Sicsic, and an artist diploma from the Cleveland Institute under Sergei Babayan.

Ryo has made concerto appearances with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, and the Moroccan Symphony Orchestra, among others. In addition to many solo recitals, he has been in demand as a chamber musician, performing in a wide range of settings, from the duo sonata repertoire to large ensembles. His most recent collaboration with eminent flutist Ransom Wilson has taken him to Moscow for performances of Canadian and American music.

A recipient of many scholarships and awards, Ryo has been endowed twice by the Canadian Arts Council with a grant as an Emerging Artist. He is also a recipient of the Arthur Foote Scholarship from the Harvard Musical Association. Ryo has been broadcast on numerous occasions over National Radio in Canada.

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Sydney-born pianist Andrea Lam began her musical training at the age of five. At 13, she won the ABC Quest Competition Viewers’ Choice Award and performed with the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras. In recent years, she has given over sixty solo performances with orchestras in Australia, the United States, Japan, and Hong Kong. She has worked with renowned conductors including Edo de Waart, Michael Christie, Alan Gilbert, Christopher Hogwood, Marcus Stenz, and Lawrence Leighton Smith and performed in such venues as the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Town Hall, Government House (Sydney), Melbourne Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall (New York), Merkin Hall (New York), New York Steinway Hall, Yale University Woolsey Hall, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall and Hong Kong Cultural Center Concert Hall.

In Australia, Andrea Lam has performed with all the major Australian orchestras (Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and West Australian Symphony Orchestra). Two nationally televised programs featured Andrea, including “Andrea’s Concerto”, documenting her life as a young pianist and ending with her performance of Tchaikovsky Concerto no. 1 with the Queensland Orchestra. Andrea was a featured artist in the 1999 and 2000 Sydney Festival where she performed for an audience of 150,000.

For four weeks from March to April 2006, Andrea Lam performed Mozart concerti to acclaim in ten performances as part of a four-city Australian tour with Edo de Waart as conductor. She returned in September as soloist touring with the Queensland Orchestra for six performances in five regional centres. Upcoming highlights of the 2009-10 season include a recording for ABC Classics and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra of two Mozart Concertos and performances with the Queensland Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, and the Christchurch Symphony.

In 2004, Andrea Lam graduated from the Yale School of Music under the tutelage of Boris Berman. At Yale, she won the Woolsey Hall Concerto Competition and the Yale Chamber Music Competition. Her studies there were generously assisted by the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust and the Foundation for Young Australians. In 2008, she graduated from Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Arkady Aronov and won the Roy M. Rubenstein Award. Andrea is a passionate chamber musician and participated in the Yellow Barn Festival in 2005 and 2006. Andrea has also been a winner of the Young Performer of the Year Award (Keyboard) in Australia, the Audience Prize recipient at the 2007 Louisiana Piano Competition, a winner of the Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant, and participated in the 2009 Van Cliburn Competition.