The 2007 Vianna da Motta Piano Competition celebrated its 50th Anniversary with great enthusiasm.

This year’s competition was held in the Small and Great Halls of the Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon, July 18-30.

Initially, the Competition received more than one hundred applications, but only 39 contestants showed up in the drawing on July 18 in Lisbon.
The Jury Members carefully selected for the Competition were, in general, not pianists but “musicians.” The President of the Competition, Sequeira Costa, decided to protect the integrity of the results, not compromising them with any outside influence of academic order.

There were eight Jury Members (four Portuguese and four Russians): Founding President Sequeira Costa, António Saiote, Fernando Eldoro, Luís Pereira Leal, Elisso Virsaladse, Liana Isakadze, Natalia Gutman, and Serguei Dorensky.

The Competition consisted of four stages:
Round I took place from July 19-21 at the Small Hall. This first stage was the “Eliminatory Round,” where each contestant played for 30 minutes.

Round II, on July 22 and 23, included the “Semifinalists” who played for 45 minutes each.

Round III took place on July 24 and 25, and contestants played a “Final Solo” performance with the duration of 90 minutes each.

Round IV, July 26-29, was the “Final Stage with Orchestra” held in the Great Hall. This last stage included concerts with the Gulbenkian Orchestra and Warsaw Sinfony, directed by Antoni Wit and Peter Csaba respectively.

Some “Observer-Members” like Mr. Naito (President of the Chopin Magazine - Japan), Robert Schermann (U.S.A), Julio Casas (Spain), Artur Pizarro (Portugal), Tao Chang (China), and Victoria Postnikova (Russia) were invited to attend the final stage with orchestras.

Round I – “Eliminatory Round” (39 contestants)
Works of J.S. Bach, Mozart, Haydn, and Chopin were the repertoire of the first stage.

1 – Andrej Osokins – Latvia
2 – Dmytro Onyshchenko – Ukraine
3 – Yuko Ueno – Japan
4 – Julia Ito – Japan
5 – Rieku Nezu – Japan
6 – Hyun Ah Choi – South Korea
7 – Emi Nakajima – USA
8 – Akiko Nikami – Japan
9 – Scezepan Konczal – Poland
10 – Hye Jin Kim – South Korea
11 – Misora Lee – South Korea
12 – Xiaofeng Wu – China
13 – Tatiana Tessman – Russia
14 – Antonio Ortiz Ramirez – Spain
15 – Yohei Wakioka – Japan
16 – Naoko Fukumoto – Japan
17 – Miwa Sato – Japan
18 – Tae Hee Kim – South Korea
19 – Arta Arnicane – Latvia
20 – Ryu Saito – Japan
21 – Yuri Maeda – Japan
22 – Yoko Ikeyama – Japan
23 – Daniel Cunha – Portugal
24 – Ji Youn Kim – South Korea
25 – Andreas König - Germany
26 – Araki Kotomi – Japan
27 – Inesa Sinkevych – Israel
28 – Atsuko Oba – Japan
29 – Sutini Goh – Indonesya
30 – Ji Jeong Han – Korea
31 – Yun Jung Koo – Korea
32 – Natalya Taldykina – Russia
33 – Yung Wook Yoo – South Korea
34 – Lilit Grigoryan – Armenia
35 – Susan Telner – Canada
36 – Ryoji Ariyoshi – Japan
37 – Sofya Melikyan – Armenia
38 – Elina Bertina – Latvia
39 – Masataka Takada - Japan

Round II – “Semifinalists” (17 contestants)
Works of Beethoven and Chopin, including as compulsory work Chopin Nocturne Op. 48, n† 1, were the repertoire of the second stage.

1 – Andrej Osokins – Latvia
2 – Dmytro Onyshchenko – Ukraine
5 – Rieko Nezu – Japan
9 – Scezepan Konczal – Poland
10 – Hye Jin Kim – Korea
12 – Xiaofeng Wu – China
13 – Tatiana Tessman – Russia
14 – Antonio Ortiz Ramirez – Spain
19 – Arta Arnicane – Latvia
23 – Daniel Cunha – Portugal
24 – Ji Youn Kim – South Korea
25 – Andreas König – Germany
27 – Inesa Sinkevych – Israel
32 – Natalya Taldykina – Russia
33 – Yung Wook Yoo – South Korea
34 – Lilit Grigoryan – Armenia
39 – Masataka Takada – Japan

Rounds III and IV – “Finalists” (6 contestants)
The solo recital included works of Beethoven (Op. 101; Op. 110; Op. 111), as well as major compositions from Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, etc. The remaining portion of the program was chosen by the contestants.

2 – Dmytro Onyshchenko – Ukraine
9 – Scezepan Konczal – Poland
25 – Andreas König – Germany
27 – Inesa Sinkevych – Israel
33 – Yung Wook Yoo – South Korea
34 – Lilit Grigoryan – Armenia

After long meditation and some hot discussions, the Jury Members agreed not to award the 1st Grand Prize, because they considered that the young contestants do not have the “charisma” of the previous 1st prize winners (please check the “past winners” on our website).

Daniel Cunha earned the “Best Portuguese Contestant” prize, and Scezepan Konczal earned the prize for “Best Interpretation of the Chopin Nocturne.” Both received the amount of 500 euros each.

Prize winners of the XVI Vianna da Motta Piano Competion are:

1st PRIZE (not given)

2nd PRIZE (ex-aequo)
Dmytro Onyshchenko – Ukraine
Yung Wook Yoo – South Korea
(Both prize winners received the amount of 20.000 euros each)

3rd PRIZE (not given)

4th PRIZE
Lilit Grigoryan – Armenia
(The prize winner received the amount of 5.000 euros)

5th PRIZE (ex-aequo)
Scezepan Konczal – Poland
Inesa Sinkevych – Israel
(Both prize winners received the amount of 3.000 euros each)

6th PRIZE
Andreas König – Germany
(The prize winner received the amount of 2.000 euros)

The beautiful Awards Ceremony took place on the July 30 in the Great Hall of the Centro Cultural de Belém. After a speech given by Sequeira Costa, the Founder of the Vianna da Motta Competition, the Cultural Secretary-of-State, Prof. Mário Vieira de Carvalho, gave the medals and the diplomas to the prize winners.

Celebrating the 50th Vianna da Motta Music Competition, President and Founder, Sequeira Costa, decided to give special medals to three Past Winners, who have contributed to expand the name of Master Vianna da Motta all over the world with their great careers. Therefore, the Russian pianist Victoria Postnikova, the Portuguese pianist Artur Pizarro, and the Chinese pianist Tao Chang received the awards.

To the delight of the audience, the ceremony finished with a recital given by all six prize winners.