AMATEUR PIANO COMPETITION 2021

CARL DI CASOLI

1st Prize

A citizen of both the USA and Italy, Carl Di Casoli studied statistics at North Carolina State University in Raleigh earning both his masters and PhD degrees in statistics in 2006 and 2009, respectively. Although he currently works as a director of biostatistics at Sumitomo Dainippon Pharmaceuticals America (Sunovion) in Marlborough, Massachusetts (Boston area), he finds time to indulge his passion for piano by performing recitals and entering amateur competitions. In 2021, he was finalist and laureate at the International Chopin Competition for Amateurs in Warsaw, Poland. In addition, he was first prize winner in the amateur divisions of the Bradshaw and Buono International Competition (2020), the Windsor (UK) International Competition (2020), the Muse International Competition (Greece) (2020), music@e-contest International Piano Competition (2020), a winner of the inaugural Pianolink International Amateurs Piano Competition (Italy) (2020), and first prize winner in the San Diego International Amateur Piano Competition (2019).

IAN ROY

2nd Prize

Ian was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and attended Wick High School. He began playing the piano at age eight and studied initially with Emma Bruce in Wick. After leaving Wick High School he studied for two degrees in maths and physics at the University of Aberdeen. Ian then worked on two research contracts at the universities of Plymouth and Newcastle upon Tyne. Thereafter he worked for the ship safety department of QinetiQ at Rosyth, and then for Petroleum Experts in Edinburgh. Ian now works as an engineering analyst for the Coventry based firm of OLEO International.

ALAIN MARI

3rd Prize

I started playing the piano at the age of 6.

I then entered the conservatory of Nice (France) where I won the first prize in 1988.

Afterwards, I put the piano aside to devote myself to my studies, but briefly resumed it in order to take part in a student concert.

I seriously played the piano again in 2014 on my own, without a teacher. I won the first prize in the "La Note Celeste" competition in 2020 and I was a finalist in the "Pianolink" 2020 competition.

I performed in public for the first time in many years at the final of this competition.

In 2021, I won the 2nd prize in Piano Bridges competition.

Currently a computer engineer, I am passionate about music and computer science, and these two seemingly very different worlds have this in common that they allow you to create, to create something new.

My favorite repertoire ranges from baroque music with Bach or Scarlatti to the music of the 20th century, through the romantic music of Chopin.

YOUJIN HONG

4th Prize

After medical studies at Korea’s Ulsan University, I did my psychiatry residency at the Seoul Asan Medical Center and have been a practicing psychiatrist since 2011.