HSBC Piano Competition 2008

i just got back from the HSBC Piano Competition from KLpac and boy it was so nice to watch! i liked shuen da's performance the MOST. yes, maybe im being a bit biased because he played my favourite piece - chopin concerto e minor. hehe. but i think hui shan will give him a good fight as she was very good too.


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so the results are out. 1st place went to shuen da, sue yi took 2nd, hui shan and lyn kang both shared the 3rd spot. i am not going to comment on how the placing was done because i feel that i'm in no position to do so as i wasn't there for the semifinals. unlike the chopin competition in 06, the final placings this time were done based on both semis and finals. meaning even if you played well in the semis but screwed your finals, you still have a rather good shot. but based on the finals itself, yes i do think that shuen da's chopin concerto performance deserved 1st place.

his 1st movement intepretation reminded me very much of how tarin plays it. nice. only a bit slower. 2nd movement was beautiful. he somehow started a bit shaky in the 3rd movement i felt, but managed to regain control soon after. overall, it was a really outstanding and enjoyable performance. i've heard mrs p talked about him once before, but never really thought he could play this well. he definitely picked the toughest concerto out of the 4 to play. i just LOVE chopin's concertos. both the e minor and the f minor one. chopin's such a genius, isn't he? i dare you to tell my teacher otherwise.. :p

it was lovely to meet so many familiar faces again after so long. uncle alvin's family was there, his wife got me a lovely mug with treble clefs on it:) i also bumped into jia yiing whose birthday it so happened was yesterday. earlier that morning i had texted her wishing her happy birthday, and what d'ya know? when shu and i reached, i heard someone call me from behind. it was her! seated right behind us lol. what a coincidence. during the intermission, i met alphie, su mei, aikhong, su yen, bang hean, hao zhi, her mom and dad. there were also some other very familiar faces, people whom i've seen before, but just don't know their names! it's such a small circle i swear.


so anyway, guess who was amongst the members of the string quartet? fung chen hwei. i couldnt recognize him at first, but after his name was announced, i bent over and whispered to shu.. "jeeez i think i know this guy..". i was right! he had added me on friendster years ago. and we sorta became online buddies for a short period. the last and only time i've seen him play was on the music DVD scott's friend terrence had given him. he was 11 and was already playing the violin really well. 13 years down the road and here he is! during the intermission, he came over to ask for my name. i suppose he had forgotten it. then i told him "you're the friendster guy, right!" haha i even got a picture with him.

#1 i took this with my camera. :)

#2 oh look it's me and uncle alvin's twinkle piano!

#3 that's fung in his shades, me, shu and hui shan.

#4 the park outside..where shu and i had to hitch!

#5 us in the monorail. you can never EVER get lost in kl. there're just too many trains all over. just follow one till you reach a station. everything goes fine from there.

#6 i'm sure the chopin competition end of this year is going to be even more interesting! i can't wait!!

ps - ms lena told ma and daddy i got highest for biology in class :)