The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation of New York has announced the contestants who will compete at the Sixth New York International Piano Competition, which will be held at The Manhattan School of Music 18-22 June. Twenty-two pianists, ages 16-21, will gather from across the globe for the week-long event that promises to be a major career springboard for many of them.
Radzevičiūtė, 20, is a graduate of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis School of Arts in Vilnius and currently continues her piano studies in New York. She is a laureate of numerous national and international awards and performs all over the world.
The level of competition has been uniformly high over the event’s 10 year history; former winners have gone on to win the Gilmore Young Artist Award, The Juilliard School’s William Petschek Recital Award, the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts at Harvard University, the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the 2010 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, and some to become National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Presidential Scholars.
Monetary awards total $40,000, but just as important as the monetary awards are the opportunities for concert and recital appearances that are awarded to winners and finalists. Held every two years, the New York International Piano Competition is dedicated to providing artistic development, educational enhancement, seminars, master classes, and performance opportunities. This year’s jurors include Ian Hobson, Tong-Il Han, Susan Starr, Alan Walker, Jane Coop, and Erik Tawaststjerna.
The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation, a non-profit organization, is an outgrowth of the renowned Stecher and Horowitz School of the Arts which was founded in 1960 in Cedarhurst, New York. Until 1999 the school was Nassau County’s leading conservatory of music, attended by some 15,000 students during its thirty-nine year history. The Foundation is now dedicated to an expanded concept that seeks to inspire and support outstanding young musicians worldwide.
In 2009, the Stecher and Horowitz Foundation announced two major changes in its biennial New York Piano Competition (NYPC). For the first time the Competition accepted contestant applications from outside the United States effective for the summer of 2010, a change in the procedures of accepting applications only from students (American or foreign) who were pursuing studies in the United States. With this development the 2010 Competition was known as the New York International Piano Competition. In addition, it expanded its age category upwards from 14-18 years to 16-21 years – this affords contestants in the late teens the opportunity to interact musically with promising young adults, serving as a challenging incentive toward greater achievement.
Agne Radzevičiūtė was born in Vilnius, Lithuania, in 1992. She started learning to play the piano with her mother Nijolė Radzevičienė at the age of five. In 1999 Agnė started studying with Violeta Lipniagovienė until 2007 at Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis School of Arts.
From 2007 to 2011 she continued studies with the prominent pedagogue and former head of the piano department in Lithuania's Academy of Music Prof. Veronika Vitaitė. She graduated from her high-school in 2011 with distinction and an official gratitude from the Minister of Education for her active cultural involvement. In fall 2011 Agne began her bachelor’s degree studies as a piano freshman at Manhattan School of Music (New York) under Prof. Nina Svetlanova.
Agnė is a laureate of numerous national and international competitions. She has given concerts in Lithuania, France, Switzerland, Russia, and at Lithuania's National Philharmonic Hall. In 2007 and 2009 she played live on Mezzo TV during 'SOS Talents' foundation concerts in Paris and Vilnius.
She constantly represents her school at various concerts, festivals and other events. In 2009 Agnė also participated in the 1st 'Vilnius International Piano Festival'. In March of 2010 she played a recital at the United Nations Office (Geneva) on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Re-establishment of the Independence of Lithuania.
