Three young pianists from the Zakhar Bron School of Music received two second prizes and one third prize at the Swiss National Youth Music Competition, which took place on 24-25.03.2017.

The Swiss National Youth Music Competition in the category Solo Piano takes place once in two years. Around four hundred young pianists from all over Switzerland take part in it. Three students from the Zakhar Bron School of Music (studio of the concert pianist Slava Spiridonov) took part in the Solo Piano Performance for the first time and all three showed the high level of preparation and self control on stage which is so important for performing at the competitions.

Here are the names of the winners:

Benjamin Branson (8 years old) performed Beethoven’s Sonatina in F-major and the Neapolitan Song from the Children’s Album by Tchaikovsky and was awarded the second prize.

Alexander Kruse (10 years old) flawlessly performed Variations on the Theme by Paganini by Berkovich and Mozart Sonata in C-major and won the second prize.

Dan Blank (9 years old) performed the F-major Invention by Bach, Valse by Clementi and the famous excerpt from the Grieg’s ballet Per Gynt and received the third prize.

“This is definitely a good result”, says Slava Spiridonov, the teacher of the winners. “I think that even just participating in a competition is already an achievement for the child. Kids received prizes, so they are happy, and I am, in general, contented. At the same time, all three of them have a lot to learn for the future development and for the fulfilment of their potential”.

The joy of the children was shared by their parents. Especially happy for her son was the mother of Alexander: it was his first competition and he already won a prize, despite the fact, that he is only studying to play piano for one year and a half!