By TIFFANY KUO

Today the career goal of pianists has changed from becoming a concert artist to becoming a complete artist. Though the difference of one adjective may appear minor, the impact is large. We know what a concert artist is, but what exactly is a "complete artist"? The term is fairly new, hard to define, and implies that somehow, somewhere in this past century, artists have ceased to be complete. Images of the prodigy growing up to be an egomaniacal recluse fill our minds. But the complete artist pursues knowledge in all subjects, and communicates beyond the stage and into our daily lives. Both of this year's Bachauer Competition winners—Michael Bukhman and Ran Dank—seek to be complete artists.

The word "balance" came up in both of their discussions on being a musician today—in terms of repertoire, and in terms of political and cultural interests. Michael and Ran share similar traits: They grew up in Israel, and completed their bachelor's degrees at Oberlin and the Tel Aviv Academy, respectively, before entering Juilliard's Master of Music degree program. Additionally, they have many obsessions aside from music—ranging from cinema to cosmology. Of course, balance for each is unique.

Micahel Bukhman (left) and Ran Dank, winners of the 2006 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition. (Photo by Peter Schaaf)

Michael was born in Azerbaijan, but when he was six, his family immigrated to Israel, where he spent the majority of his childhood before moving again—this time, to Houston, Tex.—at age 14. "Spiritually, I feel the most at home when I go back to Israel," he says. "Just the connection to the place; there's something magical about it." At the same time, he finds himself with a strong inclination towards Russian music. "I adore Stravinsky, I can listen to his music all day." For his undergraduate honors thesis, he recorded the complete Shostakovich 24 Preludes and Fugues, a two-disc CD set with two and a half hours of music. Lately, he has found himself performing a spectrum of Eastern European works, such as sonatas by Prokofiev and Medtner, Szymanowski's Masks, and the Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2. "It's my musical language," he says with pride and affection.

We met in a coffee shop during his 18-hour layover in New York between Salt Lake City—where he was a participant in the two-week-long International Gina Bachauer Competition—and Houston, where his parents reside. The younger child of two, Michael, who is 22, has a curious mind and an exuberant nature. Together, these two characteristics make for a devoted pianist with hobbies that range from military affairs to sky-diving. "I find the military fascinating as a mechanism—a complex system, like a machine that comprises different components: weaponry, intelligence, espionage, strategy, and the mental and physical states of soldiers." Michael also spoke passionately about his telescope in Houston. "The thing about astronomy that intrigues me the most is the philosophical questions, such as the beginning of the universe, and cosmology." Also in Michael's spectrum of interests is sky-diving. "You feel like you're reborn in a sense; it's a new feeling. I mean, we don't have new feelings in our everyday life; we know what everything feels like." As disparate as these hobbies may seem, they illuminate two critical skills of any musician: the intensive, detailed craft of practicing, and the spontaneous liveliness of performance.

Ran had never lived outside Israel before coming to Juilliard, yet he is one of the most open-minded and worldly pianists I have ever met. He is a classical, slightly old-world, modernist. Paradoxical, it may appear—but how else would you characterize someone who enjoys performing Bach, Boulez, Ives, Liszt and Mozart in the same program?

At age 24, Ran has an amazingly mature view of the world. When I asked him if it can be confusing to alternate between two piano teachers—Emanuel Ax and Joseph Kalichstein—he replied, "Sometimes I get different responses and different advice, sometimes contradicting ones. It's actually a lot of fun, because you get to know the real truth of art, which is that there is no real truth. Art is completely subjective. Both teachers are trying to focus on the most important thing for an artist: no matter what you do, you have to be completely convinced. It's the art of persuasion."

To know how to influence and to appeal to others, one must have a strong sense of conviction first. Ran's pianistic standpoint is influenced by the visual arts, cinema, and German literature. "The Museum of Modern Art always gives me inspiration when I go there. When I'm tired, it's a refreshing place." He's a fan of the Austrian and German 20th-century expressionist painters—Klimt, Kokoschka, and Schiele, as well as those who inspired them, such as Goya. In the same vein, Ran is an avid reader of Thomas Mann stories—so much so, that his summer plans included a two-week intensive German course in Berlin so he could read Mann's works in their original language.

Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition Winners Concert Paul Hall Wednesday, September 13, 9 p.m. Free event; no tickets required.

Ran's greatest passion, outside of music, is cinema. He recalls spending many hours in the basement of his parents' home, where they had installed a projector. "I love cinema. But I usually don't watch so much contemporary cinema, just once in a while. I'm a huge fan of the old treasures, like Les Enfants du Paradise, La Règle du jeu, Le Charme discret de la bourgeoisie, and all the Kurosawa films."

The talents and musical roots of these two broad-minded pianists will be showcased in the annual Bachauer winners concert on September 13. Don't miss out on a night of works by Arensky, Medtner, Rachmaninoff, and Szymanowski—but if you can't make it to Lincoln Center, tune in to WQXR for the live radio broadcast of the concert on the McGraw-Hill Companies' Young Artists Showcase, hosted by Robert Sherman.

Tiffany Kuo (M.M. '01, piano) is a doctoral student in musicology at N.Y.U. working on a dissertation about Luciano Berio in America.