PTNA will invite, for the first time, student jury members at the semi-final round of grade superior at 35th PTNA Piano Competition. The target age is from junior high school students to post graduate college students.

PTNA will accept any number of students applied, but ask to attend the lecture held prior to the semi-final. The lecture, led by Mr.Ichiro KANEKO (pianist, grand prize winner of 2005 PTNA Piano Competition) will address the points which are indispensable for adjudicating the competition that is characteristic in featuring four periods from Baroque, Classic, Roman to Modern. Each period has several elements to observe and evaluate, that is, stylistic understanding, techniques, quality of sounds, program building, etc. And most important thing is how to keep objective views in judging procedure.

He himself was interested in comparative research on editions from his early teenage, and resumed in-depth study of music theory when he was college student. And he keeps this approach until now. Based on his experiences, he will advise how to establish objective assessment on others' performances.

The semi-final round will be held on August 18th at Daiichi-Seimei Hall in Tokyo. Before the curtain rises, Mr.Kaneko will give short guidance for student jurors. The voting will be at the end of the day, by marking top three among 7 semi-finalists. The pianist who obtains the highest number of votes will receive the student jury prize of 90,000 yen. The semi-final round (18th) and final round (21st) will be live broadcasting by Ustream.

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