Jurow International Harpsichord Competition, semi-finals • live-streamed via Vimeo

Thursday, August 5, 2021, 9:00am CST

Jurow Competition Semifinals, performing with Jurow continuo judge Jaap ter Linden, cello.

JUDGES: Frances Conover Fitch, Jaap ter Linden, Jacques Ogg, Peter Sykes, Elisabeth Wright

9:00-9:40       Semi-finalist 1
9:40-10:20     Semi-finalist 2
10:20-11:00    Semi-finalist 3
11:10-11:50    Semi-finalist 4
11:50-12:40    Semi-finalist 5
1:40-2:20       Semi-finalist 6
2:20-3:00       Semi-finalist 7
3:00-3:40      Semi-finalist 8
4:00-4:40       Semi-finalist 9
4:40-5:20      Semi-finalist 10

Finalists will be announced at 7:30 pm. The following harpsichordists were also semifinalists but are unable to participate: J. Bennett, Christophe Gauthier, and Eszter Szedmák.

Jurow Competition Semifinalists’ Bios

Anastasia Chin, harpsichordist and fortepianist, is a doctoral candidate at Indiana University and hails from Singapore. She is in frequent demand as soloist, chamber musician, and continuo player. Anastasia made her fortepiano debut performing with the Indiana University Classical Orchestra and her harpsichord concerto debut performing with the Indiana University Baroque Orchestra. The Bloomington Herald Times wrote of her fortepiano performance “Chin showed compelling evidence of her training, along with a musicality that could have come only from native bent and talent…Technically, she offered the listener pristine clarity and precision in execution…Her interpretation featured stylistic elegance but also, in welcome abundance, the lyricism and caprice that pervade the score.” (February 7, 2012). Anastasia was one of three finalists in the Berkeley Festival International Early Piano Competition, held in June 2018 in Berkeley, CA. She was a recipient of the Artistic Excellence Award at Indiana University, where she was also an Associate Instructor in the Historical Performance Institute.

Steve Bergeron, always passionate about dance and improvised music, began his musical studies in jazz piano at Saint-Laurent College. From an early age, he nurtured an ardent love for the harpsichord and the literature of the 17th and 18th centuries. He completed a bachelors in jazz piano at the University of Montreal in 2017, playing at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and collaborating with various singers and instrumentalists. He then  followed his great love for the baroque repertoire by accompanying, on the harpsichord, the Baroque Music Ensemble of the University of Montreal, continuing his training with Luc Beauséjour, and completing a master's degree in harpsichord at the University of Montreal. Steve has performed as a soloist and accompanist on numerous occasions, serving as continuist in baroque opera productions, and collaborating on musical projects with Denis Brott, Stéphanie-Marie Degand, Clavecin en Concert, the Ensemble Volte, the Orchestre de l'Université de Montreal, and the Cobalt Quartet.

Michael Delfin, praised for “beautiful performances of great warmth” (Classical Voice of North Carolina),  captures the listener with sensitivity and flair. Delfín was recently nominated to The Diapason 20 Under 30 Class of 2021 and is the recipient of a 2021 Bourbon Baroque Nicolas Fortin Scholarship, the 2018 Historical Keyboard Society of North America Bechtel/Clinkscale Scholarship and 2017 Catacoustic Consort Early Music Grant. He is the artistic director of Cincinnati-based ensemble Seven Hills Baroque and the harpsichordist for the Bach Ensemble of St. Thomas. A devoted educator, Michael has taught figured bass and improvisation at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he is now pursuing doctoral studies, studying harpsichord with Michael Unger. He has performed in masterclasses for Richard Egarr, Joseph Gascho, Corey Jamason, Charlotte Nediger, Edward Parmentier, and Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra.  www.michaeldelfin.com.

Han Cheol Kang began playing the piano at the age of seven in his native Korea. He is currently pursuing an Artist Diploma in Harpsichord under the guidance of Charlotte Mattax Moersch at the University of Illinois. Mr. Kang received his Master of Music at the University of Michigan and received his B.M.A at Pusan National University. Mr. Kang has garnered several awards in competitions and he made his orchestral debut with the Pusan National University Symphony Orchestra and has played with Sinfonia Da Camera Orchestra in Urbana, Illinois. On his performance in Urbana, The News Gazette reported that he “…played with most admirable finesse. Kang rose to the challenges with fine bravura playing in a Lisztian manner. Appealingly reflective playing as well an evident mastery of the most difficult virtuoso passages.…..” He has received a three-year full scholarship and fellowships from the University of Illinois during his doctoral and Artist Diploma studies.

Weronika Kłosiewicz-Paine (Poland) is a harpsichordist and organist, musically active throughout Europe and Australia. Her recent achievements include competition successes at the Johann-Sebastian-Bach Competition in Leipzig 2018, Harpsichord Competition Wanda Landowska 2019, Rome International Music Competition 2018 (1st prize), ENKOR International Music Competition (2nd prize), ON STAGE International Classical Music Competition 2018, Broadwood Horniman Harpsichord Competition 2015 (3rd prize), National Harpsichord Competition „Wanda Landowska” in Poland 2010 (1st prize). In 2017 she co-founded the Double Basiliensis Harpsichord Duo for early and new music. Weronika has recently performed in numerous venues of Switzerland, Poland, Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Australia. In summer 2019 Weronika graduated from the Master’s Degree at the prestigious Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Switzerland, where she studied harpsichord with Prof. Andrea Marcon, and she also studied privately with Christophe Rousset, Władysław Kłosiewicz, and Jörg-Andreas.

Caitlyn Koester, hailing from the beautiful Pacific Northwest, surrounded herself with music in a multifaceted way from a young age. During her undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan, she was lucky to work with harpsichordist Joseph Gascho, who revealed a great love for playing early repertoire. Caitlyn is a graduate of Historical Performance Programs at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Juilliard School, and has played under the direction of celebrated musicians including Monica Huggett, Rachel Podger, William Christie, while studying with Peter Sykes, Richard Egarr, Béatrice Martin, and Corey Jamason. She was the soloist in the Juilliard415 Orchestra’s performance of Bach’s 5th Brandenburg Concerto in 2018. Finding music of the 17th- and 18th-centuries to exemplify humanity in its purest forms, Caitlyn aspires to maintain a musical life as a harpsichordist and educator who exposes and nurtures a love of this repertoire among wider audiences in the United States.

Curtis Pavey, originally from Colorado, enjoys a diverse musical career as a harpsichordist, pianist, and educator.  As a harpsichordist, he has performed in prestigious settings including the Oregon Bach Festival as a participant of the Berwick Academy. The Herald Times praised Curtis as “an artist of considerable finish and even more promise” after his solo debut as an Emerging Artist at the Bloomington Early Music Festival.  Besides his performing activities, Curtis is passionate about pedagogy and has presented lectures on baroque music and ornamentation at national conferences.  Currently completing doctoral studies at the University of Cincinnati, Curtis studies harpsichord with Dr. Michael Unger and piano with Professor James Tocco while maintaining a graduate assistantship in the secondary piano department.  Curtis graduated from the master’s program at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, majoring in Early Music - Harpsichord and Piano Performance, working with Professor Elisabeth Wright

Duangkamon “Wan” Wattanasak, a native of Thailand, currently pursues a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in harpsichord performance at Stony Brook University. Wan has received numerous awards in recognition of her musical and academic excellence, including the prestigious Princess Soamsawali scholarship, the US Marine’s Semper Fidelis Award, and the Hilldale Research Fellowship. Duangkamon’s research interests focus on the socio-historical contexts of the development of nationalistic keyboard styles. Wan most recently presented at the musicology research symposium at the Vienna Summer Music Festival. She has also been working on conducting with Stony Brook Opera, Stony Brook University Orchestra, and OLLI Chorus. Prior to shifting her focus to music, Wan held national and international titles and records in swimming while representing her country in many international games. Wan enjoys spending her free time reading, photographing, hiking, and practicing martial arts.

Zuguang Xiao - Born and raised in China, Zuguang Xiao holds a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from Mannes School of Music in New York, where he began his historical performance studies under Arthur Haas and Audrey Axinn. Zuguang recently graduated with a Master of Music degree in historical keyboard performance practice from Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied with David Breitman, Mark Edwards, and Catalina Vicens. His music mentors include Malcom Bilson and Maki Masayuki. Zuguang will be pursuing a specialized master's degree at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Fall 2021.

Elena Zamolodchikova, a Moscow native, specialized in historical keyboard performance at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory and at Julliard. She has performed in Russia, the US, Italy, Germany, and Norway, collaborating with such prominent colleagues as William Christie, Christopher Hogwood, Monica Hugett, and Nicholas McGegan. She participated in the first Moscow concert performance of Le Devin du Village, Jean–Jacques Rousseau’s 1752 opéra–intermède, played in the first Zuckermann Harpsichords Music Festival, and recently recordedEl Puente de las Almas, a new two–harpsichord work by Jose Bevía, with colleague Aymeric Dupré la Tour. She is artist–in–residence and an action technician at Zuckermann Harpsichords and organist/pianist at First Congregational Church, Westbrook, CT.