Field Narrows to 12 in Pogorelich Competition : Music: The pianists are picked from 40 contestants. They will perform Thursday and Friday in Pasadena.

Out of a field of 40 preliminary contestants at the Ivo Pogorelich International Solo Piano Competition at Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, 12 semifinalists were named late Monday night by an international, 13-member jury, presided over by the wife and longtime teacher of competition founder Pogorelich, Alice Kezeradze.

The dozen pianists, who come from the Republics of Georgia and Armenia, France, the United States, Italy, Australia, Canada, Austria, Russia and Germany, will compete Thursday and Friday at the Pasadena showplace. Each will play an intermissionless recital of 60 to 70 minutes in length. This semifinal round, like all three rounds of the competition, is open to the public.

The semifinalists and their scheduled playing times on Thursday: 9 a.m., Eteri Andjaparidze; 10:20 a.m., Avo Kuyumjian; 1:30 p.m., Leonid Kuzmin; 2:50 p.m., Olivier Cazal; 4:10 p.m., Michael Kieran Harvey; 7 p.m., Sandro de Palma; 8:30 p.m., Edith Chen.

Friday: 9 a.m., Michael Injae Kim; 10:20 a.m., Jura Margulis; 11:40 a.m., Evgeny Zarafiants; 1:30 p.m., Sergei Babayan; 2:50 p.m., Irina Plotnikova.

At the conclusion of the semifinals, the judges will name the six finalists, who will play complete recitals on Dec. 13-15 from 6 to 10 p.m.

The competition ends with an awards presentation ceremony on Dec. 16 at 8 p.m. At that time, the $100,000 top prize winner will be named; all six finalists will take home medals plus supplementary awards to be announced at the ceremony, according to a spokesman for the competition, sponsored by Ambassador Performing Arts.

Information: (818) 304-6161.