‘Ultimate concentration’ brings pianist 1st prize

International Piano Competition winners to perform in concert Sunday

Mi-Eun Kim focused her eyes intently on her fingers as they moved steadily across the keys of a grand piano Thursday afternoon inside Murphy Hall.

Suddenly, the 17-year-old broke into a more intense section of the “12th Hungarian Rhapsody” by Franz Liszt. She kept her eyes focused as her fingers more forcefully struck the keys.

Her head bobbed with the abrupt movement of her hands.

“It takes ultimate concentration because if you think about anything else for a second, that’s when memory blocks come in,” said the pianist, a Blue Valley North High School graduate who will attend Columbia University this fall on a music scholarship.

On Monday, Kim displayed her concentration for 40 minutes and through five musical pieces. She won first prize and the audience’s choice prize at the International Piano Competition at the Lied Center, organized by the International Institute for Young Musicians.

Other finalists were second-prize winner Ronald Ho, Melbourne, Australia; third-prize winner Yiju Lai, Yuan-Lin, Taiwan; and honorable mention winners George Fu, Frederick, Md.; and Alec Tauscher, Overland Park.

Kim won $3,500 for first prize and $500 for the audience prize. Ho won $2,000. Lai won $1,000 for third place, and the honorable mention winners each received $500.

Playing for 40 consecutive minutes presented a challenge for Kim. She said she practiced the pieces individually even in rehearsal.

Winners piano concert

What: International Institute for Young Musicians piano concert
When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Lawrence Arts Center, 940 N.H.
Cost: Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for senior citizens and students. Tickets are best purchased in advance, but also will be available at the door before the performance.

The first prize meant the most, but Kim also said she appreciated the audience prize.

Kim, whose family moved to the United States from South Korea, studies with her instructor, Stanislav Ioudenitch, at the Youth Conservatory for Music at Park University in Parkville, Mo.

“The audience’s opinion is very important to a competition and how credible it is,” she said.

Kim and the other competitors will now stick around Kansas University for two weeks for a music camp. The competition’s pressure is off, so now is the time to make friends, she said.

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The competition winners will perform a concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Lawrence Arts Center.