Assaff Weisman
First Place
$7,500


Sean Kennard
Second Place
$2,500


Dmitri Shelest
Third Place
$1,500


Pei-yeh Tsai
Fourth Place
$1,000


May Phang
Fifth Place
$750


Harout Senekeremian
Sixth Place
$500

 

 

 

 

 

Assaff Weisman Wins 2006 Competition
Sioux City (IA) – March 12, 2005 – Twenty-eight-year-old New York City resident Assaff Weisman was named the winner of the 2006 Iowa Piano Competition Saturday evening in front of an appreciative crowd at the Orpheum Theatre.

The win came at the conclusion of a Sioux City Symphony concert that featured performances by the final three competitors in the event.  The three, Weisman, second-place winner Sean Kennard and third-place winner Dmitri Shelest, each performed movements from Mozart and Beethoven concertos with the orchestra on the first half of the concert.  Following an extended intermission and a second half, the three were brought back on stage for the award presentation.

Ranging in age from 20 to 34, and representing eight different nations, 10 finalists arrived in Sioux City Wednesday for a three-day competition that involved a recital, a quintet performance with the Maia Quartet, and the concerto performance for the three finalists.  After the first round on Thursday, six competitors were selected to go on to the second round.  Each then performed a piano quintet with the Maia Quartet in a Friday evening concert.  At the end of that concert, Weisman, Kennard and Shelest were named as the three finalists.

Weisman's win earned him $7,500, while Kennard took home a check for $2,500 and Shelest received $1,500.  The fourth through sixth place winners also took home awards:  Pei-yeh Tsai, fourth place and $1,000; May Phang, fifth place and $750; and Harout Senekeremian, sixth place and $500.

The panel of judges which oversaw all three days of the competition are also a very impressive group. The panel consisted of: Nelita True of Eastman School of Music, Logan Skelton of the University of Michigan, and Julian Martin of Juilliard and the Peabody Conservatory of Music.

The third annual Iowa Piano Competition will be held March 8-10, 2006 in Sioux City.  Application forms will be available May 1, 2006 and entries will be accepted after May 15, 2006.

More information about the Iowa Piano Competition is available here or by calling 712.277.2111. The 2006 Iowa Piano Competition was presented by BPI Technologies Inc. and sponsored by Gelita North America, Schmitt Music, Security National Bank, and State Steel/Sioux City Compressed Steel.

- END -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Iowa Piano Competition is an intensive three-day competition hosted by the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra in Sioux City, Iowa.  For more information visit the Symphony website or call 712.277.2111.