The RNCM had a strong presence at the 2013 Sussex International Piano Competition, with postgraduate pianist Rabiga Dyussembayeva winning Second Prize and alumna Olga Paliy Third.
The biennial competition, founded in 2010 by the Worthing Symphony Orchestra’s Artistic Director John Gibbons, took place at the Assembly Hall, Worthing, where the three finalists, including overall winner Poom Prommachart of Thailand, were asked to perform a concerto accompanied the WSO and judged by an international panel.
Rabiga, from Kazakhstan, played Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto in C major to secure her prize of £2000, while Ukrainian pianist Olga (pictured above), who graduated in 2010, opted for Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto in B flat major. In addition to winning the £1000 Third Prize, Olga also won the Audience Prize.
Writing in The Argus, critic James Simister said that Rabiga was ‘able to demonstrate not only her impressive virtuosity but also a more gentle poetry and expansive vitality,’ while stating that Olga gave a ‘fine performance…revealing the subtler details while making the most of Brahms’ dramatic and complex rhythms.’
