Congratulations to Christopher Richardson, whose thoughts and advice you’ve read in this blog. On Saturday, June 9, the pianist who Peninsula Review calls a, “much lauded competition winner who is currently a pre-med student at UC Berkeley,” was awarded Third Prize at Carmel Music Society’s 2018 Piano Competition. We always like to keep up with the busy Christopher, as he is a full-time student, an accomplished pianist, and a welcome and interesting writer and speaker.
CompetitionChristopher Richardson at the Competition
At 19, Christopher was the youngest (age range was 18-30) among these gifted winners. The first (Kevin Sun) and second prize (Xiao Chen) winners have completed Masters in Music from the San Francisco Conservatory and Juilliard respectively. We are always delighted with excellence in piano music, and it is clear that these three, and indeed many of the competitors, presented their skills and artistry beautifully. This was the 40th season for this event.
Lyn Bronson, editor of Peninsula Reviews was at the competition. In his review, he said this about Christopher’s program: “Exhibiting a self-confident mastery in all three works, we had the impression we were hearing three different pianists — a dazzling virtuoso who brought artistic dignity to a much maligned Liszt warhorse, a sensitive Beethoven player and a sincere advocate for 20th-century music who was totally convincing in his exciting performance of the Muczynski Toccata.”
(He played Liszt’s Rhapsodie Espagnole, Beethoven sonata Op. 81a first movement, and the Muczynski Toccata Op. 15).
