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One of the key aspects of the Cliburn Competition is the
impressive amount of repertoire required of the candidates:
Preliminary Round, 2 recitals of 45 minutes; 2nd round, 1 recital
of 60 minutes + a quintet with the string quartet; and finally, for
the Finals, 2 concerti. (The repertoire of the screening can be
chosen from their Competition repertoire.)
Everyone in the music business will tell you: that's a lot of
repertoire for 20 days-especially for young musicians.
Let's take a moment and think about it. First, as we talked
about in a previous blog, artistic vision, sustainibility, and
strong technical piano base are key to building a career. All six
finalists of the Competition will have career management support
from the Cliburn for the three years following. The Cliburn will
act as an agent (without the commission! :)) and book them for many
engagements.
Three things come to mind:
1) It is why our
competitors must have a lot of repertoire. They will have to play
concerti, chamber music, and recitals sometimes very soon after the
Competition;
2) They will also have
to learn a lot of new repertoire; that's life! When you begin a new
job you have to learn a lot of new things, this is the same for
them. Fortunately, they will already have a lot of notes in
their hands ready to go!
3) Through the three
rounds of the Competition, we see which pianists can handle
the pressure, achieve sustainibility, stay in physical shape (a
pianist is like an athlete, he has to take care of his body all the
time) and, above all, have a unique artistic vision. This is not an
easy task!
The process is long and hard for them, but the career is tough
and very exigent. And it's only the beginning…
In my next blog post, we will talk about why youngs musicians
enter competitions, and why there are so many competitions in the
world.
Best from cloudy Hannover,
-- Jacques
Souvenir de voyage: Yesterday we met Yeol eum
Son, Cliburn 2009 silver medalist. She is in Hannover studying with
Arie Vardi, one of the jurors for the Competition next May. She was
just in Moscow for a concerto and is now going to England and
France for chamber music. She gives 45 to 60 concerts per year.
That's a lot of notes and repertoire… By the way, she will be
at
Bass Hall on March 12, 2013!!
Travel tips: Downtown Hannover is full of shops
and galleries. You never know when you may need something,
especially on a long trip. I have to go now-I need more socks and a
scarf for Moscow next week…
Quote of the day: "Simplicity is the final
achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more
notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of
art." - Frédéric Chopin
Yeol eum Son, Arie Vardi, and the 2013 screening jury
The lobby of our Hannover host venue
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