First-rate playing caps amateur winÂ
MICHAEL HUEBNER/ News staff writer
Monday, June 4, 2007
Birmingham ophthalmologist Drew Mays took first prize Sunday at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in Fort Worth, Texas.
The 46-year-old glaucoma specialist, who has a private practice and directs the ophthalmology residency program at UAB, topped a field of 75 pianists from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Switzerland and 23 American states.
The weeklong competition, held at Ed Landreth Auditorium at Texas Christian University, is considered among the most prestigious of its kind in the world. Second prize went to Mark Fuller, a lawyer from Phoenix who also received the Press Jury Award. Clark Griffith, a composer and retired Internet technology administrator from Fort Worth, took third place.
With the $2,000 award comes recital engagements in Laguna Beach, Calif., and Washington, D.C. In addition to overall top honors, Mays won the Audience Award and best performance of a work from the romantic era.
He qualified for the semifinal round on Wednesday with performances of Schumann’s “Toccata” and Beethoven’s 32 Variations in C minor. The field of 25 semifinalists was narrowed to six on Saturday, when Mays impressed the 16 judges with Bach’s “Prelude and Fugue in G major” (Book 1) and Ravel’s “Jeu d’eau.”
On Sunday, all six finalists performed 30-minute programs. Mays won with performances of Beethoven’s “Waldstein” sonata and Liszt’s “Mephisto” waltz. According to blogger Mike Hawley, a former winner of the competition, Mays won the audience over with his performance of the “Mephisto” waltz.
“He clearly got the biggest audience huzzahs,” the blog read.
Mays studied piano performance at the University of Alabama, Manhattan School of Music and at the conservatory of music in Hanover, Germany, before entering medical school at UAB.
After 15 years away from the piano, he started playing again in 2002. Last year, he entered the Rocky Mountain amateur competition, where he took second place.
The Cliburn Amateur is his second competition. He will not be able to enter the Cliburn again, because rules stipulate that winners cannot be invited back.
E-mail: mhuebner@bhamnews.com
