International Piano Competitions

For the classical music fans and especially piano fans that are interested in international competitions, the following link has all competitions, festivals and events including dates and further links to the different websites:

http://masamizuno.com/pianonew2.html 

Checking the “Piano Calendar” from the menu on the left, you can see there are many competitions all around the world almost all year round. I don’t know if all the competitions have or will have an online webcast to view the performances but I will keep posting updates on the relevant competition when covered.

The next competition I will post updates on will be:

Cleveland International Piano Competition July 27^th – August 7^th, 2011.

http://clevelandpiano.org/ 

Liszt International Piano Competition September 8^th – 19^th, 2011.

http://www.filharmoniabp.hu/en/international_piano_competition_memoriam_ferenc_liszt 

More information will be posted later this month.

Enjoy!

XIV Tchaikovsky competition - Gala concert - Moscow

I just finished watching tonight’s gala concert in Moscow, (not live for the first time) and all I can think of is WOW WOW WOW !!!

So Daniil Trifonov didn’t play all what I hoped for but he did surprise me with La Campanella by Liszt that he also played as an encore at the XIII Arthur Rubinstein competition last month. He started his performance playing the 2^nd & 3^rd parts from the Tchaikovsky piano concerto No.1 that we heard 5 times in the finals and after that the beautiful mentioned piece. All played beautifully according to the standards Daniil got me used to… Ye, this young pianist is deep in it now and he has expectations to fulfil. He made himself a big name and he will just have to make it.

It’s definitely worth watching, an outstanding performance, either live on Saturday 20:00 Moscow time or any other time through this archive: Daniil's performance at the end of the concert.

http://pitch.paraclassics.com/#/live/gala-moscow 

Enjoy!

XIV Tchaikovsky competition - Daniil Trifonov Winner

So you think it is over, ha? Well, not just yet. 

Daniil Trifonov 1st prize winner!

Yeol Eum Son 2nd prize

Yes, we have the discipline winners but we still don't have the Grand-Prix winner. What is the Grand-Prix? One grand winner to be chosen from all disciplines which will be awarded on the gala concert tomorrow night in St. Petersburg, starts at 19:00 Moscow time, and will be broadcasted on the usual webcast. There is also a gala concert of the winners tonight in Moscow but no awards tonight. I don’t know the program of the concerts as it was not published but if it will be available I will post it. The gala concert tonight starts at 19:00 Moscow time and should be broadcasted as well on the usual webcast. I hope to hear Daniil Trifonov plays Chopin and Tchaikovsky concertos again, but I think this is too much to hope for…

It was a very entertaining couple of hours yesterday waiting for the awards ceremony to start. I was ready online with the broadcast a few minutes before the planned starting time (8pm Moscow) but due to the late arrival of the St. Petersburg jury and participants, the final start time of the event was over 1 hour and a half later. While waiting, I got on the facebook page of the competition and there everything was happening…. 

For about an hour and a half people were chewing nails, making comments and jokes that clearly show signs of nervousness and anticipation. Bets on the winners followed by discussion and arguments, people not able to find the webcast, worried that they’re missing it, begging for someone to post the link again or tell them what they can see to check if they see the same. Tips to use FireFox and not IE, refresh the page, choose “live piano” from menu, re-start your PC, all the good old known tips.

One thing useful I learned from all these pre-announcements discussions, and it was also wrote under the same though (probably):  “as we are currently waiting anyway, does anyone know when and where is the next international piano competition?” and thanks to some knowledgeable followers I now can prepare myself for September when the International Liszt piano competition will take place in Budapest :)


Enjoy!