“Yes, it really is possible to play until your fingers bleed. And there’s a photo to prove it,” write Joe Rosemeyer and John Genovese on Friday (6/12) at Cincinnati broadcaster WCPO’s website. “Frank Weinstock, a judge for the Cincinnati World Piano Competition, shared the photo of a blood-smeared keyboard after Rui Urayama, of Japan, finished her performance of the Bartok Sonata in Wednesday’s quarter-finals.… Urayama, who’s been playing since she was 4, said the blood came from her left pinky finger. It started about halfway into her half-hour performance, she said. ‘It doesn’t hurt, actually,’ she said.” The article quotes pianists who say such occurrences are not unusual. “ ‘We’ve all had bloody moments here or there—but that was very dramatic,’ [fellow competitor Mei] Rui said…. The picture has more than 1 million views on Reddit; Weinstock’s photo has been shared more than 2,000 times on Facebook…. [Urayama] advanced to the semifinals … though she didn’t make it to Saturday’s final round…. The Cincinnati World Piano Competition is held every year at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.” At Saturday’s finals with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, first place went to 26-year-old pianist Artem Yasynskyy, from Ukraine.
Posted June 16, 2015