COOPER/OBERLIN PIANO COMPETITION FINAL ROUNDS LIVE
ON WCLV
FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA
PERFORMANCE FRIDAY, 7/30/10, AT 8:00 PM

On Wednesday, July 28, 2010, WCLV
broadcast the final solo round of the
first Cooper International Piano
Competition from Warner Concert Hall
at the Oberlin Music Conservatory.
Six completed, three were chosen to
perform Friday, July 30th,at 8:00 PM,
with The Cleveland Orchestra and
Jahja Ling.

The three are (l to r) 14 year old George Li
of Lexington, Massachusettes; 16 year old John Chen of Leesburg, Virginia; and 16
year old Kate Liu of suburban Chicago. They will perform the Chopin Piano Concerto
No. 1, the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 and the Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3,
respectively.

WCLV's Robert Conrad will host the live broadcast. During the intermission, Jacqueline
Gerber will talk with the Dean of the Oberlin Conservatory, David Stull. Following the
concert while the judges are deliberating, Robert Conrad will vist with conductor Jahja Ling.

Conductor Jahja Ling Leads The Cleveland
Orchestra in the Concerto Final Round of
the Thomas and Evon Cooper International
Competition for youthful pianists  at Severance
Hall on Friday, July 30. WCLV will broadcast the
concert live beginning at 8:00 PM.  On Wednesday,
July 28th, at 8:00 PM, WCLV will broadcast live
the solo final round from Warner Concert Hall at Oberlin, 
which will determine which three competitors will
perform with The Cleveland Orchestra.

Some 40 13- to 18-year-old artists will begin to arrive in Oberlin on
Thursday, July 22. They hail from Canada, China, Finland, Italy, Mexico, South
Korea, Ukraine, and regions across the United States.

In addition to the chance to perform with the internationally acclaimed ensemble,
the competition features more than $20,000 in prize money. The first-prize winner will
take home $10,000, one of the largest awards offered by an international youth
competition, and will receive concert engagements with orchestras in Beijing and
Shanghai, China. Moreover, the top three competitors will receive full four-year
scholarships to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, pending admission, that are
valued at more than $100,000 each.

The Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition is sponsored by Thomas
and Evon Cooper, who reside near Boston. Mr. Cooper, a 1978 Oberlin College graduate
and a member of Oberlin’s Board of Trustees, is a partner in the Boston investment firm
of Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo & Company. His wife, Evon, is a pianist and private piano
teacher; she will be one of several adjudicators of the concerto round in Severance
Hall.

In addition to Evon Cooper, the other distinguished guest judges are pianists Christopher
Elton from the Royal Academy of Music in London; Stanislav Ioudentich from the International
Center for Music in Kansas City; and Matti Raekallio, who holds posts at the Juilliard School
in New York City and the Hochschule für Musik in Hanover, Germany.

The annual Compeition will alternate between pianists and vioinists.