Piano Competition

The BMC Piano Competition, sponsored by the Zimmerli Foundation, occurs on the next-to-last weekend of the BMC summer season and is open to all full-session pianists.

Format

Applications for the Competition are available upon arrival at the Music Center.

Students compete with a solo program of their choice, lasting 30 to 40 minutes and containing repertoire chosen from at least three style periods. Repertoire must be approved by BMC piano faculty. Because of the format of the Competition, potential competitors are encouraged to perform shorter works. Single movements from multi-movement works, e.g., sonatas, are allowed.

The Competition occurs in two rounds.

  • In the preliminary round, on Saturday, competitors perform approximately 15 minutes. Competitors select the first piece; a judge may ask for any other piece from the competitor's repertoire list. The preliminary round is closed to the public.


  • The final round, on Sunday evening, occurs on the stage of Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium and is open to the public. Each of five finalists performs a twenty-minute program drawn from the competitor's repertoire list. Winners are announced at the end of the concert.

Prizes

There are five cash prizes: $3000, $2000, $1000, and two awards of $500. The top three contestants receive full scholarships to the Brevard Music Center for the following year.

Should no finalist come from the Young Artist (high school) Division, then the Young Artist student who places highest in the preliminary round will receive a cash prize of $500.

Past Winners and Judges

2006
  • Katherine Murray
  • Marion Scott
  • Daniel Paul Francis
  • Stephanie Titus
  • Sonya Sweeney

    • Judge: John Roberts
    2005
  • Jinha Park
  • Katherine Murray
  • Jennifer Huang
  • Amy Yeh
  • Akina Yura

    • Judge: John Salmon
    2004
  • Sharon Barnea
  • Tie: Cynthia Bova, Stephen Brown

    • Judge: Panayis Lyras
    2003
  • Joe Backer
  • Katalin Lukacs
  • Joshua Reece

    • Judge: Anne Koscielny
    2002
  • Mohammed Shams
  • Chetan Tierra
  • Denise Yen

    • Judge: Charles Webb
    2001
  • Chuan Cheng
  • Wael Farouk
  • Denise Yen

    • Judge: Charles Webb
    2000
  • Tie: Jing Jing Chang, Mohamed Shams
  • Chia-Lun Chang

    • Judges: Henry Janiec, Edvard Tchivzhel
    1999
  • Shen Liu
  • Gerald Lee
  • Katalin Lukacs

    • Judges: Henry Janiec, Barbara Lister-Sink
    1998
  • Tie: Jeremy Rafal, Nadia Sabau
  • Tie: Katalin Lukacs, Tara Tupper
  • Yin Hwa Lee

    • Judges: Jerome Rose, Charles Webb

    Concerto Competition

    Full-session pianists may also participate in the Jan and Beattie Wood Concerto Competition.