Dear friends and music-lovers, It's the time of the year again for four
consecutive evenings of classical pianism at its best.  The 7th Singapore
International Piano Festival kicks off this Thursday 29 June and will
feature this year four young pianists of the new millenium.

Hear two of them, JON NAKAMATSU and KONSTANTIN LIFSCHITZ, in conversation
in a one-hour segment on NewsRadio 93.8FM tomorrow (Wednesday 28 June) from
11am to 12 noon.

The pianists this year are:

* American JON NAKAMATSU, winner of the 1997 Van Cliburn Competition, plays
Haydn, Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov (the Second Piano Sonata).  He
plays on Thursday 29 June.

* KONSTANTIN LIFSCHITZ, 23, Russian, has the most fascinating and
wide-ranging repertoire for the Festival -- Bach's Sinfonias (complete)
and the English Suite No.  4, Scriabin's Fourth Sonata, two Mazurkas and
the early Waltz, Op.  1, and four of the 20 movements from Messiaen's
avant-garde keyboard magnum opus, "Vingt Regards sur L'Enfant Jesus".
Lifschitz plays on Friday 30 June.

* NIKOLAI LUGANSKY, 28, also Russian, was the silver medallist at the
1994 Tchaikovsky Competition and a student of the late, great Tatiana
Nikolayeva.  He plays a mostly Russian repertoire that is obviously close
to his heart and suits his style well -- eight of Rachmaninov's Preludes,
three pieces from Medtner's Forgotten Themes, Op.  38, Pletnev's
transcription of Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty", and, the only non-Russian
item, Mozart's final piano sonata, K.  576.  Lugansky plays on Saturday 1
July.

* FREDDY KEMPF, 22, British but of German and Japanese descent, stunned
a knowing Moscow audience round after round at the 1998 Tchaikovsky
Competition (in the finals, the audience stayed back for some 20 minutes
after the stage cleared and the lights went out to applaud the young
Kempf!) but shockingly walked away with only the bronze medal, amidst
furious public outcry and allegations of mafia intervention.  Kempf, winner
of the BBC Young Musician Of The Year Competition in 1992, has gone on
to stun audiences with remarkably insightful and mature music-making --
serviced by an electrifying virtuoso technique -- in concerts and made
two recordings of Schumann and Rachmaninov as an exclusive artist of the
Swedish label, BIS, all eliciting rave reviews.  Kempf brings to Singapore
four of Liszt's Transcendental Etudes, Prokofiev's scorching 7th Sonata,
and Chopin's Four Ballades (which he will record shortly after this
Singapore recital).  He plays on Sunday 2 July.

All concerts begin at 8.30pm at the Victoria Concert Hall.  Tickets from
$13 to $33 are available from all SISTIC outlets, the SISTIC hotline (call
348 555) and the website (www.sistic.com.sg).

The Piano Festival is presented by the Singapore Symphonia Company, and
co-sponsored by GK Goh Stockbrokers and Symphony 92.4FM.

Hope to see you all there!

Cheers,
Lionel Choi
Singapore