CLEVELAND, OH- On August 8, 2009, Martina Filjak, age 30, a citizen of Croatia currently residing in Germany, was named the winner of the 2009 Cleveland International Piano Competition. The distinguished jury selected Ms. Filjak from a field of 32 candidates who performed over a twelve-day period.

By the close of the Friday and Saturday's final performances, the competition's jurors were faced with a difficult task, as all four finalists delivered exceptional performances of their concertos with The Cleveland Orchestra under Juhja Ling. While The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Zachary Lewis noted the outstanding musicality of all the finalists, he especially commended Ms. Filjak's interpretation of Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2 for its "poetic passion and galvanizing strength."

In addition to a cash prize of $50,000-the largest cash prize of any contest of its kind worldwide-Ms. Filjak receives an international compact disc recording on Naxos and more than 50 worldwide engagements, including a New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall.

Additional awards included: Second Prize and $25,000 to Dmitri Levkovich of Canada; Third Prize and $15,000 to William Youn of Korea; Fourth Prize and $10,000 to Evgeny Brakhman of Russia; plus an additional $2,000 for each of the four semi-finalists that did not advance to the final round. Each contestant who completed the first two rounds without advancing received $1,000. Special awards included: Baroque Prize and $2,000 to Hoang Pham; Beethoven Prize and $2,000 to Martina Filjak; Cairns Family American Prize and $1,500 to Sean Chen; Chopin Prize and $2,000 to Soo Yeon Ham; Contemporary Prize and $1,500 to Martina Filjak and Evgeny Brakhman; and Mozart Prize and $1,500 to Evgeny Brakhman.

About Martina Filjak

Martina Filjak was born in Zagreb and raised in a family of pianists. She completed her musical education in the Music Academy of Zagreb and the Vienna Conservatory. Currently she is pursuing her studies at the Soloist Class of the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater in Hannover with Professor Mi Kyung Kim. Between October 2008 and June 2009 Ms. Filjak has been attending the prestigious Como Piano Academy at Lake Como in Italy.

In addition to being the First Prize winner at the 2009 Cleveland International Piano Competition, Ms. Filjak has been a laureate at several additional international piano competitions: in the finals of the Busoni Piano Competition in Bolzano she received the 5th prize, and in November 2007 she won 1st prize at the 58th International Viotti Piano Competition between 122 contestants. In January 2008 she was awarded 5th prize at the UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria and in May 2008 1st prize and gold medal at the 54th Maria Canals International Piano Competition in Barcelona. She performed with the ensembles of Streicherakademice Bozen, Torino Philharmic Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa as well as the Orquestra Simfonica del Valles, the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra as well as the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Christian Zacharias.

Since her debut in native Croatia at the age of 12, she has developed an extensive repertoire of piano concertos, performing regularly in the most prominent concert cycles of her home country and abroad. She was featured in numerous important solo engagements both at home and internationally: Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Hotel de Ville, Bruxelles; Philharmonic Hall, Ljubljana; Salle Cortot, Paris; Palais des Congres, Strasbourg; Palau de la Musica and the Auditori in Barcelona , Boesendorfer Saal, Vienna; Steinway Hall, New York.

About the Cleveland International Piano Competition
Now in its 34th year of existence, the Cleveland International Piano Competition possesses an eminent list of alumni, and winners benefit from an array of professional opportunities after the competition. The Competition's 2007 winner Alexander Ghindin, for instance, has enjoyed a hugely successful career since his victory, performing nearly 100 solo and orchestral engagements worldwide over the past two years. Additional winners from past years include such notable artists as Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Angela Hewitt, and Sergei Babayan.

During the competition's twelve days of performances, solo rounds were held twice daily for the first eight days. Candidates were eliminated over this period by vote of the jury until four finalists remained. Finalists performed with The Cleveland Orchestra over a two-night period and the winner was announced at the conclusion of the last performance. A celebration gala was held immediately following the announcement.

For additional information; contestant's photographs, biographies and repertoire; and jury biographies please visit the Competition's website at http://www.clevelandpiano.org

Read The Cleveland Plain Dealer's daily coverage of the competition here.

For press inquiries, please contact:

Della Homenik, Director of Communications, Cleveland International Piano Competition
Homenik@mac.com | 440-930-7322

Kirshbaum Demler & Associates, Press Representative
info@kirshdem.com | 212-222-4843

Photo Caption: Martina Filjak of Croatia, seen here performing Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 with The Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Hall, won the 2009 Cleveland International Piano Competition. Photo by Roger Mastroianni.