On the first day of the 3rd stage, Nov.18, Ms.OSAKI, who admirably got the 5th prize at the Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in 1997 was found in front of the competition site. Ms.OSAKI, who was 16 years old then, is 22 now. She has grown taller, prettier and more womanly compared with herself then, however her friendly smile is unchanged.

She graduated from Conservatoire National Superiteur de Musigue de Paris in France in this June.
Mr.D Fray and Mr.R Descharmes from France have gone through to the 3rd stage. Ms.OSAKI was one year senior to Mr.Fray and in the same year with Mr.Descharmes at Conservatoire.
"Are you coming for cheering them up?" "I am cheering every contestant. I am going to listen to their performance today and tomorrow(two days for the 3rd stage). I'd like to be here on the last day of the final competition since they perform with the orchestra. Ms. OSAKI is planning to play together with the violinist, Mr. Eijin NIMURA, on Jan.30 next year at Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space.
She has been actively playing all over the world after the Hamamatsu Competition. We hope that she will expand her place of performance more, and enjoy those performances as one of the listeners.

The first day of the third stage, November 18th, there was a long line for the tickets in front of the hall. By the time the hall was open, the number of the people lining up hit over 150.

The first player was D.FRAY (France). He placed the pieces logically - Mozart to show childhood, Liszt to show life in general, Janacek to show death and Prokofiev to show monotone. On the previous day before finding out the 2nd stage results, he said he had a stomachache.
Was he feeling fine today? He showed up by the stage before the performance to confirm where the entrance was. He took a deep breath and walked around. He checked his score and walked around. He stretched out and walked around. When a staff member commented how nice he looked in his suit, he said jokingly, "Really? That is the most important thing for French!" However he seemed to be a bit uneasy and started singing to himself to relax himself. His turn finally camec. Good luck!

In the lobby, MORITA and LISIECKI enjoyed their conversation. Unfortunately LISIECKI did not make it to the third stage. "Too bad. I will back in three years. I will be 25 years old then. My friends and I are going to Tokyo the day after tomorrow," LISIECKI commented in Japanese. Great musicians must have great sense of hearing!