LJWorld.com

Sixteen-year-old Hugo Chang was so exhausted after his piano performance of Chopin's "Ballade No. 2 in F major" that he could barely stand.

That's because he doesn't just play the notes, he feels the notes.

He said that anyone could learn which keys to play, but "it's how to interpret my ideas and feelings toward a piece and how to make it more personal : to express my inner insides" that makes a performer.

Chang, who is from Irvine, Calif., was one of 14 performers who competed in the semifinals of the International Institute for Young Musicians' 2006 International Piano Competition on Sunday at the Lied Center.

The competition kicks off the institute's monthlong summer music academy for 11- to 19-year-old pianists, who will live in a Kansas University residence hall and attend twice-weekly private piano lessons and daily academic music classes.

Photo by Rachel Seymour

Ronald Ho, 14, of Melbourne, Australia, performs during the semifinals of the International Institute of Young Musicians' 2006 International Piano Competition at the Lied Center. Fourteen competitors performed for 25 minutes each in Sunday's semifinals. Two of the 14 competitors were from Overland Park. The finals begin at 3 p.m. today at the Lied Center.

Scott McBride Smith, the institute's president, said students also must practice piano for three hours a day - at the least.

"This is what they like to do for fun," Smith said. "We've got to kick them out of the practice rooms."

The competing pianists all will attend the summer music academy. In fact, attendance there is a prerequisite to entering the international competition.

Smith said about 40 of the academy's 100 students-to-be entered the preliminary competition. Each submitted a videotape of themselves playing piano, and 14 were chosen to compete in the semifinals.

Today, the six finalists will battle it out at the Lied Center.

The victor will get the prestige of a winning the competition as well as a $3,500 cash prize.

There are four judges in the competition. Among them are a Juilliard School graduate who lives in New York City and a piano pedagogue from China.

Smith said the pianists were judged on talent and personality, but there was no truly objective way to choose a winner. In fact, in the competition's three-year history, the judges rarely have agreed on who should win.

"We don't see that as a negative," Smith said. "It's an art of personality. The kids understand it."

Judy Baker, a piano teacher from Everett, Wash., attended the semifinals with her competing student, Matthew Palumbo.

She said students in the piano competition worked tirelessly to prepare for the big day.

Photo by Rachel Seymour

Ronald Ho, 14, performs during the semifinals of the International Institute of Young Musicians' 2006 International Piano Competition at the Kansas University Lied Center. Fourteen competitors performed for 25 minutes each in the semifinals Sunday. Two of the 14 competitors were from Overland Park. The finals begin at 3 p.m. today at the Lied Center.

"Everyone has their own system of what will make them feel prepared," she said.

To avoid intimidation, she said the students usually didn't watch each other perform. She also said Palumbo was practicing, but "not too much," and was going to eat three hours before the performance to optimize his energy.

Chang said he prepared by just looking at the notes on sheet music and imagining what they would sound like when he played them.

Alec Tauscher, a 17-year-old pianist from Overland Park, has attended the institute's summer academy before, but Sunday was his first performance in the international competition.

He said he had been sick all last week and hadn't been able to practice. He almost pulled himself from the competition but decided at the last minute that he didn't want to pass up the opportunity to compete.

Tauscher breezed his way through pieces from Bach, Mozart and Chopin, but almost immediately collapsed after exiting the stage.

Now, he said, he's looking forward to the next month, when he'll more or less live, breathe and sleep in a piano practice room.

Though it's taxing work, Tauscher said he would never get tired of performing.

"No, never : you can't be," he said.