In what looks like an image from a horror movie, a photo of a blood-stained piano keyboard has been making the rounds on social media since Friday, a souvenir of an apparently intense performance during the Cincinnati World Piano Competition.
Competitor Rui Urayama's fingers bled last Tuesday during a performance of Bartók’s Piano Sonata Sz 80, prompting competition organizers to stop the proceedings and call in a technician to give the instrument a thorough cleaning. Urayama told Cincinnati television station WCPO she has a “special condition” causing her left pinky to bleed but said it doesn’t particularly hurt. “It’s just surprising for me,” she said. “I didn’t expect so much reaction.”
The shocking shot was taken by competition judge Chris Slaughter and posted to Facebook, where it has been shared nearly 4,000 times. It later made its way to Reddit, where it has been viewed more than one million times.
“It looked like a war zone – a battle scene," another competitor told WCPO. “We’ve all had bloody moments but we stop. She couldn’t stop because she’s competing.”
But a few expressed skepticism over the causes of the incident. "Normally, one attributes dry skin and cuts due to cold, dry winter weather," the pianist Jeffrey Biegel commented on the blog Slipped Disc. "(We usually use a moisturizer with gloves over night and drink plenty of water). Many questions here, sorry."
The competition ended Sunday night with Ukrainian pianist Artem Yasynskyy taking the gold medal, which comes with a $45,000 first prize and a recital in New York.
Below is the Bartok sonata in question: