We are delighted that pianist Antonio Carrascal has reached the final within his category of the international competition in Seville, VII Concurso Internacional de Piano “Ciudad de Sevilla”.
Antonio was one of 15 young musicians chosen to play in the semi-final which took place via Zoom. He is one of five chosen to go through to the final which, all being well, will be a live event that will take place in Seville in September.
The competition has been running since 2014 and was initially named after Julio García Casas, a pianist from the south of Spain who studied piano at the Seville Conservatoire. Now in its seventh year young pianists from all around Spain and abroad take part. There are 3 categories: A (8-12 years old), B (13-17 years old) and C (18-25 years old).
When asked about his experience Antonio said "I played Beethoven Sonata op. 53 Waldstein. The competition organisers tried to keep it as close as an actual performance as possible and sent us a four-digit pin and we had 30 minutes to record ourselves (for a 10 minute programme) and upload it to YouTube. Then we had to share the link and wait.
Surprisingly I actually did feel the excitement of performing even though I was at home just recording myself, playing my instrument, in the room I am used to playing in. The organisers did really well trying to keep it close to a normal performance which made it feel a lot more alive than I thought, since there is a big difference from just playing in a practice room to being on stage in front of an audience. Therefore, I am very pleased with result, but most important, I had a great time playing great music. I look forward to playing in the final, but for now, back to the hard work."
Antonio has always loved music and began learning the piano at age five. He joined St Mary's Music School in 2017 at age 14 (S4) where he has since been able to develop his love of music. He said "Before I came here I knew I liked music very much, but here is where I am growing as a pianist and a musician."
For the final Antonio is working on Chopin’s Scherzo no 3, op. 39 and Prokofiev’s Sarcasms no 1 and 3.
Photo copyright @NeilHanna