SIXTEEN YEAR OLD LEONARDO CALAFELICE WINNER OF COOPER COMPETITON - AND WCLV WAS THERE!
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Photo by Roger Mastroianni

Leonardo Colafelice, a 16-year-old pianist from Altamura, Bari, Italy, is the first-prize winner of the 2012 Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition.,  WCLV broadcast live the entire Concerto Round of the competiton, as it had the Solo Rounds on Wednesday, July 25th, from Oberlin College's Warner Concert Hall.

Leonardo's stellar performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30, with Jahja Ling conducting The Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Hall on Friday, July 27, brought him the top prize of $10,000, one of the largest awards offered by an international youth competition. The prize includes concert engagements with orchestras in Beijing and Shanghai, China, and a full, four-year scholarship to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Full Oberlin scholarships were also awarded to the second- and third-place winners. Xiaoyu Liu, 15, from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, won second prize and $6,000 for his performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18. Micah McLaurin, 17, from Charleston, South Carolina, won third prize and $3,000 for his performance of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21. The competition sponsors, Thomas Cooper, a 1978 graduate of Oberlin College, and his wife Evon, presented the awards.