(November 27, 2013)

Centenary to host Wideman International Piano Competition

SHREVEPORT, LA — The 2013 Wideman International Piano Competition will be held December 6-8 at Centenary's Hurley School of Music. Admission to the preliminary rounds is free and open to the public and admission to the final competition is free for students and $10 per person for the public.

Wideman Competition
2012 Competition First Prize winner Asiya Korepanova, a native of Russia, with Dr. Lester Senter Wilson, Executive Director of the Competition.

The preliminary rounds of the Competition will be Friday, December 6, 11:30 a.m.-1:15 p.m. and 2:45-6:15 p.m. and Saturday, December 7, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. Finals will be held Sunday, December 8, beginning at 1:00 p.m.

"We are expecting 41 contestants from eight states and 12 countries to compete for the gold, silver, bronze, and honorable mention titles," said Dr. Lester Senter Wilson, Executive Director of the Competition.

Title awards include

  • Gold Medal: William Peyton Shehee & Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee Award, $5000
  • Silver Medal: Frazier Properties LLC (given in memory of Genevieve & Carlton Frazier) and Martha & Bill Smith Award, $2500
  • Bronze Medal: Martha Jones Rice Award given by Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Carl Rice, $1500
  • Honorable Mention: F Thomas Siskron III & Family Award, $1000

The Gold Medalist will perform with the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra, the South Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, and the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra and will perform recitals at the Philips Collection in Washington, DC, the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago, The Emmett Hook Chamber Texas Street Artist Recital Series in Shreveport, and the Shreveport Symphony Chamber Series No. 2: Mozart and More.

Judges for the Competition will be pianist Alfred Mouledous, Music Director and Conductor of the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra Jeffrey Rink, and Distinguished Cullen Professor of Music at Moores School of Music at the University of Houston Abbey Simon.

Beginning in 1950, the Nena Wideman Piano Competition has been held annually the first weekend of December at Centenary College-Hurley School of Music. The annual competition was named after the late Nena Wideman, a former member of the Centenary College piano faculty, for her contributions to the contest.

For more information visit the website www.widemanpiano.com or call 318.869.5235 or 601.946.2063.