11th USA International Harp Competition (2019)

July 3 - 13, 2019

L to R: Lisci, Wauters, Laurent, Lee, Riedl, Hwang, Ruf, Blardone

Gold Medal - Mélanie Laurent (France)
Silver Medal - Valerio Lisci (Italy)
Bronze Medal - Mathilde Wauters (Belgium)
4th Prize - Se Hee Hwang (South Korea)
5th Prize - Woojin Lee (South Korea)
6th Prize - Miriam Ruf (Germany)
7th Prize - Myriam Blardone (Canada)
8th Prize - Marika Cecilia Riedl (Germany)

Winners

  • Prize for Best Performance of Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez - Mathilde Wauters (Belgium)

  • Prize for the Best Performance of Uno Alexander Vesje’s work Life is flashing before my eyes and I realize it all started with a blackbird for Live Harp and Soundtrack - Valerio Lisci (Italy)

  • 6th Ruth Inglefield Composition Contest Prize - Uno Alexander Vesje (Norway), Life is flashing before my eyes and I realize it all started with a blackbird for Live Harp and Soundtrack

Special Prizes

Skaila Kanga (Jury President)
Milda Agazarian
Sylvain Blassel
Jana Boušková
Mario Falcao
Anneleen Lenaerts
Dan Yu

Jury

Gold Medal:

  • Lyon & Healy Concert Grand Harp, up to a value of $55,000, sponsored by Lyon & Healy Harps 

  • Debut Recital at Lyon & Healy Hall in Chicago sponsored by Lyon & Healy Harps

  • International Laureate Exchange Prize between the USA International Harp Competition and the International Harp Contest of Israel

    • Laureate Recital at the 21st International Harp Contest of Israel

  • Hantang Culture Award sponsored by Shanghai Hantang Culture Development Co., Ltd

    • Hantang Culture Trophy

  • $6,000 Prize – Susann McDonald Prize

Silver Medal: $5,500 – Rachel Mary and John Isaac Jones Memorial Prize

Bronze Medal: $5,000 – Korea International Harp Competition Prize

Fourth Prize: $4,000 – Hong Kong Harp Centre Prize

Fifth Prize: $3,000 - Dr. Konrad William Rinne and Dr. Erzsébet Gaal Rinne Prize

Sixth Prize: $2,500 – HarpMasters Academy Prize

Seventh Prize: $2,000 – Marlene Harris Prize

Eighth Prize: $1,500 Eleanor Fell Memorial Prize

Special Single Work Performance Prizes

  • $1,000 – Willy Postma Concerto Prize for the best performance of Joaquín Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez

  • $1,000 – Margaret Louise Smith & Nancy Smith Taylor Memorial Prize for the best performance of the winning composition of the 6th Composition Contest – Uno Alexander Vesje: Life is flashing before my eyes and I realize it all started with a blackbird for Live Harp and Soundtrack  

6th Composition Contest Prize

  • $2,000 American Harp Society Prize

  • Publication of winning composition by Lyon & Healy Publishing

Prize Awards

Stage I

  • J.S. Bach: Any Prelude and Fugue from “The Well-Tempered Clavier”  

  • Louis Spohr: Variations sur l’air “Je suis encore dans mon printemps”, Op. 36

  • Jacques de la Presle: Le jardin mouillé

Stage II

  • Nino Rota: Sarabanda e Toccata

  • Gabriel Fauré: Une châtelaine en sa tour

  • Choose One:

    • Ernst Krenek: Sonata for Harp, Op. 150

    • Germaine Tailleferre: Sonata for Harp

  • Choose One:

    • Carlos Salzedo: Ballade, Op. 28

    • Henriette Renié: Ballade Fantastique

Stage III

  • A free choice program of 40 minutes to include the following:

    • 6th Composition Contest winning composition: Life is flashing before my eyes and I realize it all started with a blackbird for Live Harp and Soundtrack by Uno Alexander Vesje

    • Spoken program notes not to exceed five minutes of the 40-minute program. The performer may speak in any language. A printed transcription in English must be provided to the jury.

Stage IV

  • Choose One:

    •  Franz Liszt: Liebesträume No. 3 (any edition)

    • Mikhail Glinka: The Lark (any edition)

  • Joaquín Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez

Repertoire

Myriam Blardone, Canada
Marcel Cara, France
Nicolette Chin, Singapore
Hannah Cope, USA
Noelia Cotuna, Spain
Louisic Dulbecco, France
Johanna Dorothea Goerissen, Germany
Zachary Hatcher, USA
Naho Higuchi, Japan
Nanako Hirai, Japan
Se Hee Hwang, South Korea
Abigail Kent, USA
Kyunghwa Kim, South Korea
Chelsea Lane, USA
Mélanie Laurent, France

Competitors

Woojin Lee, South Korea
Subin Lee, South Korea
Valerio Lisci, Italy
Sunshine Lo, UK/Hong Kong
Lea Maria Löffler, Germany
Julia Christine Lukan, Austria
Yana Lyashko, Uzbekistan
Alexandra Mullins, USA
Chanel Perdichizzi, Belgium
Marika Cecilia Riedl, Germany
Juan Riveros, USA
Miriam Ruf, Germany
Julien Sabbague, France
Liliana Safikhanova, Russia
Michelle Sweegers, Netherlands

Sakura Taga, Japan
Nagisa Tanaka, Japan
Emma Thomazeau, France
Lise Vandersmissen, Belgium
Jenna Vergeynst, Belgium
Clara Wang, Canada
Nan Wang, China
Mathilde Wauters, Belgium
Joost Willemze, Netherlands
Klara Woskowiak, Poland