The final stages are taken place on the 22nd and the 23rd of November. It will start at 6PM on the first day and on the second day, the performance will start at 3PM and the awarding ceremony will start at 7PM on the 23rd. The finalists' concert is planned from 3PM on the 24th. The first prizewinner will perform for 20 minutes and others will be given 15 minutes each.

In the final stage, the contestants will perform concertos with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra conducting by OTOMO Naoto. The first performer BLECHACZ chose Concerto No.1 in e minor op.11 of Chopin. SUZUKI and SEKIMOTO who will play on the same day chose Concerto No.1 in b flat minor op.23 by Tchaikovsky. The 23rd will start with SALOV who will perform Concerto No.1 in b flat minor op.23 of Tchaikovsky. The next performer SUDO will challenge with Concerto No.3 in C major op.26 of Prokofiev. The last piece will be Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini op.43 of Rakhmaninov performed by KOBRIN.

The finalists took a little break before the rehearsal. The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra arrived Hamamatsu on the 20th. The 1-hour rehearsal was taken place on the 20th and the 21st to practice for the final stage.
OTOMO, the conductor who joined the previous competition as well said, "This competition is one of the best as far as the quality of the contestants go. Especially the finalists are all very talented and their quality is hard to describe. There are a young pianist who is still to be discovered and some who are already well known. I am looking forward to see both types on the same stage in a short period of time."

BLECHACZ
He was born in 1985. The 18 years old contestant studied at A. Rubinstein State Music School in Bydgoszcz and studied under J. Pola?ski. He won the 2nd prize in A. Rubinstein International Competition for Young Pianists 2002. In a press conference, NAKAMURA, the headperson of the juries said, "He has been outstanding since the audition in Vienna." His pure and expressive performance has attracted to juries.

SUZUKI
He is 25 years old, born in 1978. After taking Yamaha Master Course, he entered Accademia Pianistica di Imola in Italy. He has studies under Gornostaeve, Eguchi, Scala and other teachers. He has won the 6th prize in F. Busoni International Piano Competition 2000 and the special prize in International Tchaikovsky Music Competition 2002. He left an unforgettable impression among the juries playing the Schumann piece.

SEKIMOTO
He was born in 1985 and 18 years old. He is a senior at Toho Gakuen Music High School and studies under Inagaki, Ninomiya and Voskresensky. He won the first prize in the Chopin International Piano Competition in Asia (Junior High School Division) in 2000 and also won the Grand Prix at PTNA Piano Competition and Yasuko Fukuda Scholarship in the 1st Yasuko Fukuda Scholarship Audition 2003. NAKAMURA said he is an 18 years old momentum.

SALOV
He is 24 years old, born in 1979. He was graduated from Guildhall School of Music & Drama and studied under Havill, Beroff and other teachers. He has been doing great so far and some juries who had heard him perform before said, "This is the best performance of his so far." Some juries says, "As far as the beauty of the sounds goes, he is the best by far." He participated the Hamamatsu Piano Academy in 2001 and 2003. At the press conference after the third stage, he surprised the audiences by greeting in Japanese.

SUDO
She was born in 1987 and is 16 years old now. She is a student of Utsunomiya High School in Tochigi and studies under Eguchi and Urakabe at Yamaha Master School. She won the 1st prize in Ettlingen International Competition for Young Pianists 1998 and participated the Hamamatsu Piano Academy in 2003. She is the youngest contestant. One of the juries said, "She has improved so much during the competition and gave the juries a strong impression."

KOBRIN
He is 23 years old, born in 1980. He studied under Zelikman and Naumov at Moscow State Conservatory of Music. When he won the Grand Prix at F. Busoni International Piano Competition 1999, he started getting attention. He also won the 3rd prize in Chopin International Piano Competition 2000. He is one of the major young pianists and already holding concerts. His bloomed sounds and colorful pianism grabbed the attention of juries.


Interview with NAKAMURA Hiroko

-The final stage is starting from the 22nd.
"This is the 5th Hamamatsu International Piano Competition held and it is the best ever. I have been a jury at many competitions, so I can tell the competition has grown to be on of the best competitions in the world.
We chose 25 contestants out of 83 in the first stage and then the number was down to 13 in the second stage. Finally we chose 6 contestants in the third stage. We have to choose whom to pass in every stage, however every contestant can be the finalist of competitions elsewhere. The juries are having such a hard time failing someone each time.
Mr. VARDI is the chairperson of the juries of the Rubinstein International Competition. He said in a press conference held earlier, 'In a competition which its level is not very high, you can tell the difference of each contestant's technique. On the other hand, in this competition, it did not go that way.' He also said, 'Each jury gave his or her vote to the one he or she loved the most. I think our love reached to the ones who failed too,' so as it proves, their performances were so close to each other."

-Reflecting how close each contestants were, the 3rd stage had one additional person to challenge.
"The second stage performed by 25 contestants was amazing. Juries and I were especially impressed with Symphonic Etudes op.13 of Schumann SUZUKI performed. The marks we gave the contestants were so close, so we decided to give 13 contestants, which was originally planned to be 12 the opportunity.
The competition is a place a beast lives (said jokingly), so even if you are good, you sometimes cannot perform well. On the contrast, you can perform better than you usually are on the stage. There was a person who improved a lot during the competition."

-The six finalists have strong characters.
"They demonstrated their characteristics and personalities. They moved us by showing the deep feeling and self-devotion toward music.
However, I would like to mention one more time the fact the difference between those who failed and passed was very small and the outcome was close. It was very hard for us to decide whom to choose. The results were probably up to each contestant's condition of the day.
It can be said to be a winner, you need to have strong luck with you too."

-Three Japanese contestants were chosen.
"I am very impressed with the Japanese contestants. They have world-class talent and taste. Reflecting this, three Japanese contestants were chosen.
ROUVIER said in a press conference, 'The Japanese contestants were known with technique, however recently they started to express their own music,' and I cannot agree more.
The young contestants also impressed me very much."

-The contestants will play concertos with the orchestra in the final stage.
"In the first stage, we usually focus on the music sophistications and skills, however as the outcome was very close, we evaluated with each contestant's appeal and artistic quality.
In the second stage, we evaluated the character of music. They had to perform for 50 minutes, so it was important to show the ability to perform a concert alone including the power of expressions and concentration. We assigned Ichiyanagi's piece to everybody, so we also judged where he or she position the piece in his or her program.
In the third stage with no assigned repertoires, they had to make their own programs like their own recitals, so the taste was judged as well. In the final stage, their unison and balance with the orchestra as well as the piano skills are to be judged. A recital is made for a single pianist, but when it comes to concertos, we expect other skills. This competition is made to see a pianist with various points of view."

-The citizens are paying attention to the event. More than 1,000 audiences come to the hall every day. As of the last day of the third day, more than 12,000 people came.
"By looking at the people coming to the competition, I feel that Hamamatsu city indeed is a city of culture. I think that is why we have this great competition here.
In the final stage, the contestants perform the pieces they have considered with special attention. They chose great pieces. The final stage is a great opportunity for audiences to enjoy various talented performances in a short time. There are not many concerts with such great young talents (said jokingly), so I hope many people come."