Stars of Summer Annual International Piano and Vocal Competition Cleveland Cultural Gardens August 20, 2022
The Stars of Summer annual international piano and vocal competition took place in the summer of 2022 and winners of the competition performed at a gala concert. It began with a performance by students of the School of Cleveland Ballet who performed Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. They performed outside on the stage of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Centennial Peace Plaza just as the rain started to fall.
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Cleveland Ballet School Dancers
Patti Evans, the Counselor of the Jr. Fortnightly Musical Club and Festival Chairman of Ohio Federation of Music Clubs, District I-A, gave a welcome and explained the stars of the evening - students, parents and teachers.
Ken Kovach and Patti Evans
MC Ken Kovach held the umbrella on the stage of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Centennial Peace Plaza.
Ken Kovach and Svetlana Stolyarova
Because of the rain, the rest of the concert was moved inside to St. Casimir Church Hall. Piano and Voice teacher Olga Druzhinina is the driving force behind the Stars of Summer event.
Olga Druzhinina
The participants were backed by the Cleveland Stars Orchestra led by conductor Lisa Goldman.
Cleveland Stars Orchestra
Each of the Stars of Summer then performed for the audience. For example, 14 year old Shirley Zhang performed Leave it to Me by Alex Peskanov on the piano. Her teacher is Nella Kamerman.
One of the highlights of the event was the Cleveland premiere of the Ukrainian Concerto # 2 by composer Alexander Peskanov by the winners of the Piano Concerto Prize with the Cleveland Stars Orchestra led by conductor Lisa Goldman. In this video interview with Dan Hanson, the composer explained the inspiration behind the Concerto and its 3 movements. Mr. Peskanov also told how it was to see such young talented musicians perform his piece.
Enjoy these pictures from the event.
Alexander Peskanov and winners
Benjamin Wei
Catherine Xiao
Deeksha Yenugula
Evan Dan
Jayden Sun
Madison Sheffield
Mila Voitovych
Nathan Liu
Reese Zhao
Sarah Zhou
Shirley Zhang
Alexander Peskanov and Svetlana Stolyarova
Alexander Peskanov and teacher
Dozia Krislaty, Alexander Peskanov and Ken Kovach
Olga Druzhinina
Stars of Summer group
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