KUWAIT CITY, March 13: Talent young citizens and residents of Kuwait had a chance on Friday to express their musical talents on the piano during the first and second stage hearings of the 5th Kuwait International Chopin Competition. The competition is part of the 1st International Gulf Chopin Competitions, which will take place in Kuwait on March 19-20.
First stage hearing participants competed for inclusion in the second stage hearings of the Kuwaiti competition on Saturday that was followed by an awarding ceremony. The jury consisted of prominent music professionals and professors residing in Kuwait, who may be part of the jury during the international competitions.
The Kuwait Chamber Philharmonia (KCP) established the Kuwait Chopin Competition and Cezary Owerkowicz, KCP Chairman, along with his wife Anna Owerkowicz were part of the jury. Cezary represented Poland in the 7th International Chopin Piano Competition in 1965 and Anna represented Poland in the 8th competition. The couple arrived in Kuwait in 1985 to lecture at the Higher Institute of Music. They also established the Treasure of Talents Program and Festival.
Patricia Whealan, PR Manager at the British School of Kuwait (BSK) where the competition hearings took place said that the Kuwait International Chopin Competition began in 1999 and this is the first time other GCC countries are participating. “The standard is quite high this year as compared to previous years. The students that interpret the pieces they choose the best get picked for the competition. It all depends on the talent and the difficulty of the pieces as well,” she said.
The facial expressions and body movements of the pianists as well as the smooth flow of the pieces were also part of the criteria that was judged by the jury.

Participants from the 3rd and 4th groups of the 5th Chopin Music Competitions in Kuwait with the jury panel.

Winners
There were 64 participants from Kuwait out of 200 participants from the GCC. The participants were divided into four groups based on their age - Group 1, up to 9 years; Group 2, 9-13 years; Group 3, 13-15 years; and Group 4, 16 years and above. Both first and second stage hearings consisted of two pieces played by each participant, one of which had to be a Chopin piece, especially by those over 13 years of age.
Three competitors from each group were picked in the second stage hearings to compete in the 1st International Gulf Chopin Competitions with other winners from the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar.
The participants who have passed on to the second stage hearings are as follows:
1st Group: Hai Wei Li;  Easa Alaraj; Joshua Mathew Ajith; Haya Al-Dajani; Cyrus Raki; Lulwa Al-Shamlan; Fatma Marafie; Dania Ramadan.
2nd Group: Abishek Brindhaban; Yasmin Al-Ansari; Tamara Dashti; Farris El-Zaridi; Munirah Al-Zaid; Coralynne Crasto; Pardy Bedirian; Vasudev Venkatesh;  Trisha Biswas; Deborah Longenecker.
3rd Group: Karni Bedirian; Arda Dagkilic; Wissam Al Jablaoui; Heui Sung Kim; Razan Jafar; Yasmine Raki; Alik Barberian; Charles Fernandes; Merriam Al-Fuhaid; Yara Hakim.
4th Group: Feixue Li; Patil Zakarian; Anfal Marafie; Dalal Yassawi; Faisal Ghazi Al-Bahairi; Hussain Shehab.
All participants played their hearts out to the jury and some of them have only been playing for no more than two years. Kuwaiti Faisal Ghazi Al-Bahairi played exceptionally difficult pieces after studying the piano for nearly two years while Hussain Shehab self-taught himself piano through adobe software programs a year ago after being inspired by his brother, who in turn got inspired by the Hollywood movie ‘School of Rock’.

The Jury Panel
Kuwaiti pianist, instrumentalist and composer Zeina Ghared Al Bathali said that it was an honor being part of the jury in Kuwait. “Kuwaiti families are now very caring and conscious about the musical talents of their children as compared to a few years ago. Previously, they did not pay attention to their kids’ interests in music, especially classical music,” she commented.
The jury also included Dr. Sahar Mulhem, who has contributed plenty to the development of music education in Kuwait as a piano professor, performer, academic councilor general and organizer of music activities and events in the College of Basic Education; and Harriet Bushman, who is a well known and highly appreciated composer, pianist, teacher and music festival organizer in the Gulf region.
New residents of Kuwait, pianists Kinga and Karol Masternak, said that they were pleasantly surprised by the musical talents available in Kuwait. “We arrived in Kuwait in September and this is the first time we are part of jury panel. We thought that classical music was not very popular in the region but we are very happy to discover otherwise. The talents here are part of the European standards in classical music and can compete on an international level,” they said.
Kinga Masternak graduated with honors in 2006 from the Music Academy in Poland. She performed solo and with music ensembles in Poland, Germany, France, Czech Republic and Italy. Karol Masternak graduated from the same music academy and represented Poland at the 14th International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 2000. He performed solo and with music ensembles as well in Poland, Germany, France, Czech Republic, and Norway.