FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (January 2000)
Contact: Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120
SHREVEPORT, LA -- Yi Su, a 14-year-old freshman at Caddo Magnet High School, won first prize in the 2000 Rapides Symphony/Orchestra Concerto Competition -- Youth Division (open to students through grade 12), beating pianists from throughout the state of Louisiana on Saturday (Jan. 22).
He played the first movement of Concerto No.1 in E-Flat by Franz Liszt, and will be performing it with the RSO on Sunday, Feb. 13, and again for two Youth Concerts on Monday, Feb. 14.
The Rapides Symphony is located in Alexandria, and the competition takes place in the Guinn Auditorium on the campus of Louisiana College.
This is the first time in years that a Shreveport pianist has won the Rapides competition. Su was the only freshman competing. The other competitors were juniors and seniors, traveling from as far as Lake Charles and Baton Rouge. Su is a student of Dr. Ross E. Smith, assistant professor of piano at Centenary College.
Dr. Smith remarked that Su is a hard-working student, and has made remarkable progress over the past year. Notwithstanding what Smith calls a "supreme talent," Su finds time to achieve straight "A's" in school and is active in other areas, such as swimming for the Caddo Magnet varsity swim team. He also plays viola in the school orchestra.
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