Leonardo Colafelice, a sixteen-year-old Italian pianist, has won first prize in the 2012 Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition, co-presented by the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Cleveland Orchestra. The competition finals were held on July 27 in Severance Hall; Colafelice won with his performance of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, with Jahja Ling conducting the Cleveland Orchestra. In addition to a $10,000 prize, Colafelice will have the opportunity to perform with orchestras in Beijing and Shanghai, China, and receive a four-year scholarship to Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Second- and third-place winners Xiaoyu Liu (15, Montreal, Canada) and Micah McLaurin (17, Charleston, South Carolina) won $6,000 and $3,000, respectively, and will each receive full Oberlin scholarships, pending admission. The Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition, established in 2010, is open to musicians between age 13 and 18; it alternates annually between piano and violin.
Posted July 30, 2012
