SHEPHERD SCHOOL GRADUATE STUDENTS WIN GOLD MEDALS

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David Medina
Director of Minority Relations

Two graduate students from Rice’s Shepherd School of Music—Clara Shin and Kana Mimaki—are still basking in the sun from their golden moment on an Italian island.

Photo by David Long	Photo by Jeff Fitlow
Shepherd School graduate students Clara Shin, left, and Kana Mimaki won a gold medal this summer at the Catania International Music Festival’s Rachmaninoff Concerto Competition.

Each of the pianists won a gold medal this summer at the Catania International Music Festival in Sicily, where they competed in the Rachmaninoff Concerto Competition.

Shin, who won the silver medal in the 2004 World Piano Competition, struck gold this time when she played Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

Shin participated in the music festival this August and took part in a 10-day master class that preceded the competition. As part of her prize, she has been invited to return to Sicily this month to perform a series of concertos.

“What is more important to me than winning this competition is finding my music being accepted by musicians with different backgrounds,” Shin said.

Shin is from Korea, but has been doing graduate work in piano in the United States, first at the University of Florida, where she received a master’s degree, and now at Rice, where she is pursuing a doctorate.

“Shin is a most compelling presence on stage, with true humanity in both her personality and her playing,” said Robert Roux, chair of the Rice piano program and Shin’s teacher for the past several years.

“During my education at Rice, I gained tremendous confidence, leading me to believe that music is a universal language,” Shin said.

That confidence has also led Shin to seek more challenges in the music world. “I believed that the Catania Music Festival could open the door to more opportunities, and I couldn’t have been happier when the result turned out positive.”

Success has led to success. Because she won the gold, Shin was invited to perform in January at the Atheneul Roman in Bucharest. In the spring she will be back in Catania to perform a piano quintet at a chamber music festival.

Also in the spring, she will be participating in the Steinway Festival in Gainesville, Fla., where she will have a chance to play for Philippe Entremont, a renowned French conductor and pianist.

Finally, in the spring Shin will be performing Ernst Krenek’s Fifth Piano Sonata as part of her doctoral recital. She plans to defend her dissertation, which is an analysis of this sonata, in the fall of 2006.

After she completes her work at Rice, Shin plans to give a recital in October of 2006 at the Seoul Art Center, which is home to the Korean National University of Arts. This performance will be of special significance to Shin for several reasons: She had her debut concert there in 1993, and it was the last time her grandmother heard her play before she died.

“This performance is going to be quite an emotional one for me,” she said.

Mimaki, another doctoral student of Roux’s, was a co-winner in her division. She played Rachmaninoff’s First Piano Concerto with the Berlin RIAS Youth Orchestra directed by Daisuke Soga.\

“It was an absolutely great experience for me,” Mimaki said. Mimaki started playing the piano at 3 in Japan and two years later won her first piano competition. Recently she has won a series of contests, including The Los Angeles Liszt Competition and the International Russian Music Competition.

“Kana is a brilliant young artist with great technique as well as sensitivity, fully deserving of the numerous accolades she has earned,” Roux said.