SHENZHEN families and individuals who are piano enthusiasts may gain close contacts with piano elites from around the world by volunteering to provide assistance during the 3rd China Shenzhen International Piano Concerto Competition held from June 15 to 27.

    The competition’s organizing committee is recruiting 40 volunteer families and 10 individual volunteers in the city.

    Volunteers should be music lovers who have basic knowledge of piano, good enough oral English to provide competent translations during the competition, and no bad habits or criminal records.

    Volunteer families should be able to provide guest rooms for contestants, preferably with a piano in the home and a vehicle to provide transportation for contestants. Family members should be able to communicate in English and be available to assist the contestants during their stay.

    Applicants can apply to volunteer and find all relevant information about the program by logging on to www.csipcc.com.cn by April 15. Free concert tickets and souvenirs will be available for volunteer families and individuals.

    As the city’s top-level competition in the cultural and art field, the piano competition has 45 contestants qualified for the final round, which include 17 foreign players from internationally acclaimed conservatories and 28 Chinese candidates from renowned domestic music conservatories. Nine of them were top prizewinners of international competitions, such as the 5th International Anton G. Rubinstein Piano Competition, the 6th V. Horowitz International Piano Competition and the 13th International Chopin Piano Competition in Asia.

    For the first time, world-renowned conductor Christian Ehwald from Germany will be on the judging panel of the competition’s final contest. Also on the judging committee are pianists Andrzey Jasnski from Poland, Boris Berman from the United States, Nojima Minoru from Japan and Arie Vardi from Germany.

    A renowned Poland chamber music quartet will be invited to give a performance during the competition. The quartet has been playing concertos for the International Chopin Piano Competition in Asia for the past 15 years. They will stage performances with young piano players from Shenzhen.

    Following the competition’s popularity among local citizens in the past two sessions, this year’s competition will open its eight preliminaries for free, and tickets for the three semifinals, three finals and one closing ceremony with the quartet performance will be publicly sold at favorable prices.

    Tickets for visits are priced at 50 (US$8), 80, 120 and 180 yuan and a 20-percent discount is available for purchases of three-ticket sets. Teachers and students can get 5 percent off with their teacher or student card.

    Quartets consisting of teachers and students from the Central Conservatory of Music will play concertos for the contestants. A complete lineup from Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra will play concertos for the opening and closing ceremonies, the semifinals and the finals, which could also be valuable opportunities for young piano players to learn from accomplished pianists.

    Galina Chistiakova, last year’s champion, will give a performance at the opening ceremony, and the top three prize-winning contestants will present their award-winning tunes in a group performance to audiences at the closing ceremony.(Anna Zhao)