By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
In a field called the best ever, Eric Lin, a 15-year-old from Falls Church, Virginia, easily came out on top of the David D. Dubois Piano Competition Sunday at Bowling Green State University.
Internationally known pianist Spencer Myer, the guest artist and juror, praised the maturity of Lin’s work. “It was extremely grown up playing,” Myer said. “You can tell he’s a serious thinker.
Lin was also “the most technically refined,” he said. “The technical refinement contributes to how easily he can express himself.”
All the judges, Myer said, were in agreement that Lin merited the top prize.
That top prize carries a cash award of $3,000.
Other prize winners selected by Myer and fellow jurors, guest judge James Giles, of Northwestern University, and BGSU faculty member Robert Satterlee, were:
• Heather Gu, Troy, Michigan, second prize, $2,000.
• Shuheng Zhang, Canton, Michigan, third prize, $1,000.
• Henry Tang, Brooklyn, NY, honorable mention.
Lin said he came to the Dubois competition on the advice of a couple older friends who have competed in the event. “They said it was an excellent experience.”
That proved to be the case, Lin said. “A lot of competitions are very serious, here it’s very relaxed. You can really just express yourself here.”
Myer noted that as well. “There seems to be a very collegial atmosphere.”
Lin said he and his teacher, Marjorie Lee, work together selecting pieces. She will choose pieces for him to play, and he decides whether he likes them or not. This year, he said, he had more input into the process. Together they strive to have a broad stylistic range in their repertoire.
At the Dubois Lin performed Beethoven’s Sonata in C minor, as his required Classical Era sonata, and Frederic Chopin’s Scherzo No.3 as well as two 20th century works, a Bela Bartok etude and, Lin’s favorite of the program, a movement from Samuel Barber’s Sonata in E-flat Major.
Lin loves music because it can reach across borders. “It’s very powerful, sometimes even more powerful than words. You can communicate with all cultures, all cultures have music. If you do it right it can reach into everyone’s soul.”
He’s devoted to classical music. Though he may sometimes play a pop tune, he finds that music “lacks depth.”
A sophomore at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, he is uncertain what career he will pursue.
Robert Swinehart, a trustee of the David D. Dubois Trust, said that the event is thriving in its sixth year. The trust funds the competition and festival, which includes a master class and recital by the guest artist. “Dr. (Laura) Melton wrote the proposal that’s what really established it here in Bowling Green, and it’s really blossomed.”
He said the university’s piano faculty has supported the effort and been able to reach out to piano teachers and programs around the country to establish this as an event teenage pianists want to participate in. And every year, he said, the field gets stronger.
“The consistency and the level of artistry was really impressive,” Myer said.
Pianists must submit a recording, and the field of semifinalists is selected. Of the 24 semifinalists who performed Saturday, the judges narrowed the field to 11. That large number pushed the starting time of the final round Sunday to 8:30 a.m.
Though there was a certain consistency in the programs – a quarter of the pieces performed were by Chopin with Beethoven and Bach accounting for another 25 percent – the pianists put their personal stamps on their programs. (A notable absence in the repertoire was Mozart.)
While music 150 years old or older dominated, more recent works got strong performances. That included Gordon Chin’s 13-year-old “Phantasy” performed vigorously by 13-year-old Henry Tang.
