On November 14, the last day of the first stage, 11 contestants including Alexander Kobrin who was the third winner from International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition 2000 gave performances. The audience of more than 1000 in the Concert Hall, where the first stage took place, enjoyed the performances of these distinguished contestants. The total number of the audience for the 5-day first stage surpassed 5000.
After all the performances for the first stage, the chairperson of the jury, Hiroko Nakamura announced, in the Concert Hall lobby, the names of the contestants who go through to the stage two.
Suzuki, who found that he was one of them, said, "This is incredible. I'm glad I will perform tomorrow, because I don't want a long interval before the next stage. Whether I can sleep well or not will be the key." Tamura, another contestant who will go through to the second stage said, "I'm nervous because I play tomorrow, but I'd like to play my music."
Andrea Lam (Australia) is the first performer today, the first day of the second stage. Anton Salnikov from Russia, Hibiki Tamura and Hironao Suzuki from Japan are among these 9 contestants as well.

After the performances (the fourth day of the stage one)

1 Andres Anazco
"I could have played better in some part, but I think I played well generally. I chose Mozart's Sonata No. 3 because I think his works are very important. And I also chose Chopin's Ballad No. 4. Chopin is my favorite composer, and I have a special feeling for him. I would like to become a Chopinist in the future."

66 Sergei Salov
"Before the performance, I thought it was a good experience for me whatever the result would be. I had both good part and bad part in my performance. It really was a good experience, even though the duration wasn't long enough. I consider all the performances I gave in the past, whether in concerts or in competitions, to be good lessons to me. What I will learn is important, I think."

After the performances (the fifth day of the stage one)
77 Rina Sudo
"I enjoyed a lot during my performance. I could hear the sound I made which resounded throughout the hall. Since I participated in the Hamamatsu International Piano Academy this spring, I had wanted to enter this competition. I would like to learn more technique. I'll keep going so that I will be able to get many people to enjoy my performance."

35 Alexander Kobrin
"I'm just through my performance, so I can't say a lot, but I think I could play well. I played a Bach because I like his works. I chose a Haydn because I thought few contestants would play his works. I like Japan very much, so I wanted to challenge the Hamamatsu Competition. I also wanted to play in front of the audience which I think different from European audience."

76 Konstantin Souhovetski
I feel very happy now after finishing my performance. I'm doing what I like, whether it is a competition or a concert, so I am happy. The audience and the hall are also great. I had wanted to participate in this competition, so I'm happy to be here. People in Hamamatsu are so kind, and I like the city very much.

25 go through to the second stage
The result for the competition's first stage was announced on the evening of November 14. The announcement was made in the Concert Hall lobby in the ACT City Hamamatsu with more than 150 people watching, including the contestants and the audience. The chairperson of the jury, Hiroko Nakamura and the co-chairs, Fanny Waterman and Arie Vardi were present in the announcement. Nakamura read out each of the contestants who go through to the second stage.
Then a press conference was held and Hiroko Nakamura made a comment: "I have been a juror since the 2nd competition and the chairperson since the 3rd competition, I think this year's event has the highest level ever. It was almost impossible to select 25 from 83 contestants. I think more than half contestants at least have abilities to go through to the second stage."
She mentioned the scoring system by the jury; "In music competitions in general, basic musical ground and technique are mainly evaluated during the first stage. This time, since we have a very high standard here, we went further to see the charm and the artistry." She added, "We will look for, during the second stage in which the contestants will give a performance of nearly 50 minutes, the extensive expressiveness and the physical energy that can make an evening concert possible."
Then the co-chair Fanny Waterman made a comment about the first stage. "This competition has reached a high level comparable to the world-class competitions such as "Leeds", "Tchaikovsky "and "Rubinstein". We can call it "a festival" since it gives many people an opportunity to listen to big pieces within a short period of time."
The co-chair Arie Vardi said, "If you are in a rather low-level competition, you can easily tell the level gap from the beginning of the first stage, but this competition is not the case. Each juror cast a vote for his or her favorite performance. I'm sure their cheers got through to those who unfortunately didn't succeed."

A mini-party was held to encourage the contestants
On the evening of November 14, a mini-party was held, at a hotel in the town, to encourage the contestants who didn't succeed. About 40 contestants and the whole jury attended the party which started at 7:30 p.m. The atmosphere was cozy and relaxed without stiff formalities. The participants had good conversations among them. There were many who listened to the jurors' advices.