The first Prize of the 55th Jaén International Piano Contest has not been awarded for the seventh time in its history. The last time it was not awarded was in 2003. The Jury, presided by Ana Guijaro and composed by Pilar Bilbao, Rafael Quero, Tamas Vesmas, Yukie Nagai, Matti Raekallio, Marian Rybicki and Pedro Jiménez Cavallé, acting as Secretary, has decided that non of the participants of the final, Marcos Raúl Madrigal (Cuba), Nicolas Namoradze (Georgia) and Evgeny Starodubstev, deserves to win the first prize.
Eventually, the winner of the second prize was the Cuban Marcos Raúl Madrigal, who is getting 9,000 euros and a diploma, while the winner of the third prize, sponsored by Unicaja, the Georgian Nicolas Namoradze, was rewarded with 6,000 euros and another diploma. Right at the end of the final, the Jury announced the winner of the "Contemporary Music" award, the Russian Evgeny Starodubtsev, who gets 6,000 euros for the best interpretation of the mandatory work. The "Rosa Sabater" award, given by the City Hall to the best interpretation of Spanish music, was given to Cristina Lucio-Villegas and the "Audience Award" was given to the Russian Evgeny Starodubtsev. The players made their performance in a crowded Nuevo Teatro Infanta Leonor, where about 800 people gathered to enjoy the concerts. Madrigal, the Cuna player, performed the Piano Concerto no. 2 in G minor, Op.22, composed by Saint Saëns; the Piano Concerto in A minus, Op. 54, from Schumann, was the choice from the Georgian Namoradze, and the Russian Evgeny played the Piano Concerto in G mayor, Op. 58, from Beethoven. None of these intrepretations have been good enough at the eyes of the Jury to get the first award. However, the Jury did gave the rest of the awards away.
The “Jaén” International Piano Contest is considered one of the best representatives of the cultural atmosphere of Jaén because of its prestige and its trajectory. Every spring, the Main hall of the Music Conservatory and the new theater Infanta Leonor take the celebration of the contest in. This is one of the oldest competitions in the field of music, which has been won by players of 20 different countries in its 54 editions, confirming its international impact. Pieces of great composers will be played from the 4 to 12 April by young piano players, every single one of them under the age of 32, who must also pass three qualifying rounds. Between this works —all of them with a high interpretation level— stands out the mandatory work, composed exclusively for the contest by very well-known Spanish musicians. In this edition, the composer José Manuel Ruiz created this musical piece, entitled “Almenara”.
Endorsed by awards like the Medal of Honour of the Royal Academy of Arts of Granada or the Manuel de Falla Award, given by the Regional Government of Andalucía, the reputation of this contest is also reflected in the amount of its awards. There are six awards: the first, second and third award, the “Rosa Sabater” award to the best Spanish music interpretation and the “Contemporary Music” award and the "Audience Award". The total amount of the prizes is up to 47.000 euro this year.
