Dec. 11, 2017, — Wang Yinuo and Mei Li were named Gold Medalists at the 67th Wideman International Piano Competition. Both young pianists were rising stars in China.
Wang Yinuo, born in Beijing, China in October 1996. Starting to play the piano at the age of 4. In 2007, she was admitted as a piano student to the Music Elementary School attached to the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) in Beijing, and in 2010 she entered the Music Middle School attached to CCOM.
Pianist Wang Yinuo (Photo: Courtesy of Wideman International Piano Competition)
In fall 2016, Li was awarded a full scholarship to begin her study for the Performer’s Diploma with Professor Alessio Bax at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, USA. As a piano student for these years, she has won some international piano competitions, including third prize at the IX International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz in Ukraine (2011), with the chance to play Liszt Concerto No. 1 with the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic Society of Ukraine, first prize at the 1st Indonesia Pusaka International Piano Competition in Jakarta (2011), second prize at the competition held by the 18th Hamamatsu International Piano Academy in Japan (2014), third prize at the 1st Midwest International Piano Competition in the United States (2014), Honorable Mention at the Wideman Piano Competition (2016) and third prize at the Chautauqua Piano Competition (2017).
Li also participated in some international piano academies and festivals, such as the PianoTexas in USA (2013 & 2015), the Hamamatsu International Piano Academy in Japan (2014), the Morningside Music Bridge in Calgary, Canada (2014), and the Chautauqua Institution in USA (2017). Traveling around China and abroad, she played many piano recitals. She once played piano concertos with the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic Society of Ukraine and the Romanian Mihail Jora Philharmonic Orchestra. She played solo piano recitals in many Chinese cities like Beijing, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Shenzhen, Kunming, Ningbo and Dalian, and one in Jakarta, Indonesia, and also at her school of the University in Dallas. Courtesy of Wideman International Piano Competition
Mei Li was born in Henan, China, and began her piano studies at the age of five. Li graduated from the Middle School Affiliated to the China Conservatory.
Li has given many concerts in national and international festivals. Competition prizes include third prize in the 2011 Steinway International Competition, 5thChina Regional Competition; Second prize in China Conservatory YAMAHA Asian Scholarship and second prize in the Chinese Golden Bell Award for Music National Piano Competition for Young Artists in 2013; and first prize in the National Youth Piano Arts Festival of the “Zhong Yin Cup” in 2014. Li is also a national third prize winner in MTNA Young Artist Piano Competition in 2017. In 2015, Mei was admitted to the TCU School of Music as a winner of theprestigious Nordan Music Scholarship and currently studies with Dr. Tamas Ungar.
Wang and Li won the gold medals—officially titled The William Peyton Shehee & Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee Award— a certificate. The cash award for the gold and silver prize were combined and split evenly between the two. A Silver Medal award—dubbed the John & Alice Frazier (in memory of Genevieve & Carlton Frazier) and Martha & Bill Smith Award—was not presented this year.
A part of the gold medalist’s prize is to perform with several symphonies and in recitals during the following year, it will be determined which events Yinuo and Li will play—and whether they will appear together or alone.