- The jury awarded the second and third prizes to the Americans Anthony Ratinov and Rachel Breen, after having assessed the performance of each and every candidate throughout the entire contest.
- Cecino received 30,000 euros as the winner of the contest, and will record an album with the IBS Classical label; Ratinov has earned 20,000 for the second prize; and Breen 10,000 for the third. The musicians will be giving a concert tour.
The Iturbi Prize, organised by the Provincial Council or Diputació of Valencia, has announced the winners of the Valencia International Piano Competition in the different categories at a gala presented by Laura Grande and Martín Llade, which took place at the Teatro Principal on Saturday 10th June.
The jury, chaired by Joaquín Achúcarro and including leading personalities from the international piano and music scene such as Catherine d’Argoubet, Edmon Colomer, Ana Guijarro, Paolo Pinamonti, Jorge Luis Prats, Didier Schnorhk and Josu de Solaun, decided to award the first prize to the Italian Elia Cecino. The second and third prizes went to the Americans Anthony Ratinov and Rachel Breen, after having assessed each candidate’s performances throughout the entire competition, including two recitals and two concerts with the Valencia Orchestra conducted by Álvaro Albiach in more than three hours of performance.
Cecino has received 30,000 euros as the winner of the contest, and will record an album with the IBS Classical label; Ratinov has earned 20,000 for the second prize; and Breen 10,000 for the third. The musicians will be performing a concert tour. The three finalists who did not reach the Grand Final were Sergey Belyavsky and Anastasia Vorotnaya (Russia) and Djordje Radevski (Serbia), who each received 5,000 euros. Belyavsky also earned 3,000 euros as the best finalist not awarded with the first, second or third prize, from the Valencia City Council.
In the special prize section, endowed with 2,000 euros for eachprize, the best performance of Spanish music was acknowledged by the Valencia Provincial Council as being the one by Ratinov; a piece by Chopin performed by Cecino was recognised by the Valencia City Council; a sonata by Mozart performed by Breen and a recital by the winner of the first prize were acknowledged by the Valencia Philharmonic Society; a Beethoven concerto performed by Cecino was also awarded a prize by Kawai-Spain; and the best contestant chosen by the public was Ratinov, the winnings provided by Clemente Pianos.
Furthermore, the pianist Vorotnaya received 1,000 euros contributed by Polimúsica for her performance of the work Madre [Mother] by the Valencian composer Francisco Coll; while the Valencia Institute of Culture’s Associate Directorate of Music and Popular Culture of the Regional Department of Education, Culture and Sport is collaborating with 5,000 euros for a concert tour of the Valencian Community region for the first three prizes.
