When the co-chairs of the Carmel Music Society’s 1998 Piano Competition, Dottie Roberson and Linda Dowd, stepped to the rostrum on Sunset Center’s stage on Saturday afternoon, March 28, to announce the Competition winners, there was perceptible tension in the air. The eight finalists seated in the front row waited with baited breath to hear the decision. But first the judges for the competition, James Bonn, Craig Rutenberg and Frederick Weldy received introductions and acknowledgement for their difficult task.

And, when the announcement of the winners finally came, there was little surprise that 21-year-old Heidi Hau from Los Altos had won the Society’s grand prize of a $3500 cash award and a contract to appear on the Society’s regular subscription series in 1998-99. Anyone hearing her performance during the competition recognized immediately that here was a young woman who has achieved an impressive mastery of the piano at an early age. In her opening selection, Beethoven’s Sonata, Op. 109, she presented the Vivace ma non troppo in bold strokes with intensity and authoritative musicianship. The following Prestissimo was as well played as you will ever hear it-nicely styled, technically impeccable and totally convincing. The Liszt Sonetto 104 del Petrarca started out aggressively and rather too loud, but half way through, Ms. Hau brought the dynamic down to the quieter end of the spectrum and achieved a lovely and moving ending

Continue Reading »