For immediate release                                                   April 21, 2008

JOPLIN, MO (SNS) – Pianists begin performances tomorrow (Tuesday, April 22) with hopes of reaching the finals in the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, which continues throughout the week. Contestants in the Junior Division ages 10 to 17 will perform before a panel of international judges in a quest for $10,500 in prize money. The semi-final rounds are held in Webster Recital Hall on the MSSU campus and are open to the public free of charge.

            Each contestant will play a 25 minute program of classical solo works from different style periods. The announcement of the Junior finalists will be made at the conclusion of rounds at approximately 9:45 p.m. Tuesday night. The Junior final rounds will be held from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursday. Senior Division rounds begin Wednesday.

            The Junior contestants and their performance times are:

9:15 a.m.          Behzod Abduraimov, 17, Uzbekistan

9:45 a.m.          Jingdan Gu, 14, China

10:15 a.m.        Nansong Huang, 14, China

11:00 a.m.        Chaojun Yang, 12, China

11:30 a.m.        Yuxin Jiao, 15, China

1:15 p.m.          Jung-Eun Kim, 14, Korea

1:45 p.m.          Anna Han, 12, USA

2:15 p.m.          Kenric Tam, 17, USA

2:55 p.m.          Alan Woo, 16, USA

3:25 p.m.          Yang Song, 16, China

7:00 p.m.          Daniel Hsu, 10, USA

7:30 p.m.          Andrew Tung, 13, USA

8:00 p.m.          Yale Work, 17, USA

8:40 p.m.          Fantee Jones, 14, USA

9:10 p.m.          Christine Kim, 16, USA

             For additional information and concert tickets, contact MSIPC at 417‑625‑9755, email msipc@mssu.edu.