Hanoi (VNA) - Popular Vietnamese pianist Luu Hong Quang won the secondprize at the Oleggio International Piano Competition held in Italy from May3-6.

“I am very happy to share a good news about my European trip this time. I wasawarded the second prize in the Oleggio International Piano Competition inItaly last night! I am very grateful to my family, teachers and friends for alltheir sincere support. Thank you very much!” Quang wrote on his Facebook page.

The first edition of the competition attracted 80 contestants aged 18-37. Afterthe qualifying round based on the contestants’ video clips, the jury chose 30contestants for the final round, who were winners of various internationalcontests, from Russia, Italy, France, Ukraine, Japan, China and Vietnam.

Each contestant had to pass two further rounds. The first round was for 20minutes. Six contestants from the first round were selected for the secondround, in which the contestants had to play for 50 minutes.

Quang played S. Rachmaninoff’s Etude Tableux op. 33-9 and F. Liszt’s Apres UneLecture de Dante at the first round. He played four pieces in the second round:M. Ravel’s Alborada del Gracioso, L. V. Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 2 - N3, A.Scriabin’s Two Poems Op. 32 and F. Liszt’s Mephisto Waltz.

Quang won second prize, while the first prize went to a Russian contestant andthird prize was won by an Italian pianist.

The jury included noted pianists such as Olivier Cazal from France, MarioCoppola and Giuseppe Gullotta from Italy, Sofya Gulyak from Russia and Wang Xinfrom China.

Quang is the son of Luu Quang Minh, a lecturer at the Vietnam National Academyof Music. Quang studied at the academy from 1997 to 2007 under the guidance ofProf Tran Thu Ha, former rector of the academy.

“Quang is an example of a young generation of artists who never stop makingefforts. I highly appreciate his strong willingness,” Ha told Viet Nam News.

“When I taught him, his talent was not polished enough. But then, with hisdiligence, he has achieved a lot of success and he has never been satisfiedwith himself. He continues to compete in prestigious competitions to betterhimself,” Ha added.

Between 2008 and 2012, Quang studied at the Academy of Music and PerformingArts (AMPA), in Australia under the guidance of Kyung Hee Lee. In 2013-2015, hepursued his master’s degree at the University of Montreal, Canada, under theguidance of artist Dang Thai Son.

This is the 14th international prize Quang has won since 2006. He teaches musicat AMPA, Sydney, Australia.-VNA