Other events in Baltic States

Twenty two young pianists, ages from 16 to 21, have been chosen from across the globe for week-long event at the Manhattan School of Music. Lithuanian piano player Agne Radzeviciute is among participants, reports LETA, referring to The Lithuania Tribune.

The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation of New York has announced the contestants who will compete at the Sixth New York International Piano Competition, which will be held at The Manhattan School of Music from Monday, June 18 through Friday, June 22, 2012. The event includes four rounds plus a series of masterclasses and seminars.

Awards are also given to the best duo, paired at the beginning of the competition, to perform in the ensemble round. Unique to the New York International Piano Competition is its policy of no elimination; each contestant will perform in all four rounds and be judged by a jury of some of the most distinguished members of the music community. Every participant will return home either as a prize winner or finalist award recipient. The level of competition has been uniformly high over the event's ten years history; former winners have gone on to win the Gilmore Young Artist Award, The Juilliard School's William Petschek Recital Award, the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts at Harvard University, the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the 2010 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, and some to become National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Presidential Scholars.

Monetary awards total 40,000 US dollars, but just as important as the monetary awards are the opportunities for concert and recital appearances that are awarded to winners and finalists. Held every two years, the New York International Piano Competition is dedicated to providing artistic development, educational enhancement, seminars, master classes, and performance opportunities. This year’s jurors include Ian Hobson, Tong-Il Han, Susan Starr, Alan Walker, Jane Coop, and Erik Tawaststjerna.

Longtime New York Times critic Allan Kozinn wrote a feature story on Mr. Dorman in 2011 in which he noted that Mr. Dorman's "music works its magic by melding far-flung influences and making them sound natural together. Depending on the score, an inviting neo-Romantic fabric may bear touches of modernist acerbity; vigorous, complex rhythms; themes built on Middle Eastern and Indian modes; Baroque figuration; or the accents of pop and jazz."

Agne Radzeviciute was born in Vilnius, Lithuania on February 15, 1992. She started learning to play the piano with her mother Nijole Radzeviciene at the age of five.

In 1999, Agne started studying with Violeta Lipniagoviene until 2007 at the oldest and most prestigious school of arts in the country – 'Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis School of Arts'. From 2007 to 2011, she continued studies with the prominent pedagogue and former head of the piano department in Lithuania's Academy of Music – Prof. Veronika Vitaite. She graduated from her high-school in 2011 with distinction and an official gratitude from the Minister of Education for her active cultural involvement. In fall 2011 Agne began her bachelor's degree studies as a piano freshman at Manhattan School of Music (New York) under Prof. Nina Svetlanova.

Agne is a laureate of national (J. S. Bach, B. Dvarionas) and international (‘Music without Borders’, ‘Klavier Musik’) competitions. In 2006, she won the first prize in the 14th International Young Pianists Contest named after F. Chopin (Szafarne, Poland). Also in 2006, Agne with her contemporary Jurate Zabityte won International Piano Duos Contests (Druskininkai and Kaunas, Lithuania). In 2008, Agne won the first prize at the international competition "21st Century Music" in Finland.

Agne gave concerts in Lithuania, France, Switzerland, Russia, and at Lithuania's National Philharmonic Hall. In 2007 and 2009, she played live on Mezzo TV during 'SOS Talents' foundation concerts in Paris and Vilnius.

She constantly represents her school at various concerts, festivals and other events.

In 2009, Agne also participated in the first 'Vilnius International Piano Festival'. In March 2010, she played a recital at the United Nations Office (Geneva) on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of the Reestablishment of the Independence of Lithuania. The young pianist has played numerous times together with Mikalojus Konstantinas Ciurlionis School of the Arts Orchestra as well as Kaunas Symphonic and Lithuanian Chamber orchestras.

During her school years Agne was supported by M. Rostropovich’s Charity and Support Foundation 'Support to Lithuanian Children' as a talented child since 2006. Another talented children support foundation 'SOS Talents' (Switzerland) approached her also in 2006, since that date Agne had given numerous performances in Switzerland and France.

The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation, a non-profit organization, is an outgrowth of the renowned Stecher and Horowitz School of the Arts which was founded in 1960 in Cedarhurst, New York. Until 1999 the school was Nassau County's leading conservatory of music, attended by some 15,000 students during its thirty-nine year history. The Foundation is now dedicated to an expanded concept that seeks to inspire and support outstanding young musicians worldwide.