Cooper International Piano Competition

Evren Ozel

Evren Ozel, Allison To, Daniel Che, and brother Jeffrey.

Tadeusz and Bercin Ozel and Michele and Hao Che

And it’s a wrap! After 10 days we have said goodbye to our guests who were here that long for the 2016 Cooper International Piano Competition. We were lucky enough to have all three of our rooms occupied by the competitors and last night one of them, 17 year old Evren Ozel from Minneapolis, finished second overall in the Concerto finals held at Severance Hall with the Cleveland Orchestra! We listened to his performance on the radio and I have to say he was superb! For his extraordinary effort he has been awarded a full four year scholarship to Oberlin College Conservatory and a prize of $10,000. He was joined in the competition by 15 year old Allison To from Yorba Linda, CA and 16 year old Daniel Che from Plano Texas who both were more than excellent. They all really made the piano rock and to my untrained ear they were all perfect!

The International Cooper competition is held every year at Oberlin College alternating each year between piano and violin so next year we will welcome the violinists who will also compete for 10 days with the final round at Severance Hall with the Cleveland Orchestra.

So we give a standing ovation to these three talented teenagers and wish them well on their journey wherever life takes them.