The Well-Tempered Ear
Meet the 2024 winners of the Classic Piano International Competition in Dubai, UAE
Leave a Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
Did you know that the fourth and final round of a major international piano competition was taking place in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates this past week?
The Ear didn’t — until now.
That when he saw the nine 2024 winners (below), chosen from 70 participants, named in a post on The Violin Channel website.
The third edition of Classic Piano International Competition — which started during the 2017-28 season — makes sense when you think about it.
Dubai has lots of oil money but not a lot of Western culture or prestige. But Piano World contains more than enough competitors and venues for the event — even after such top-ranked, career-boosting competitions as the Tchaikovsky in Russia, the Arthur Rubinstein in Israel, the Leeds in the UK, the Chopin in Poland and the Van Cliburn in the United States.
So why not a major piano event for the Middle East and the Arab world? (Readers: Do you know if any other music competitions take place in that area?)
Its format is unusual.
Pianists cannot apply directly. Instead, they have to participate in the early rounds that are held in countries around the world. Those who finish in the Top Five of a preliminary competition get invited to the final round in Dubai.
The competition’s preliminary rounds took place in the USA, France, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Kazakhstan, Poland, UK, Armenia, China, South Korea, Japan, Israel, and Spain.
Here is some general background:
And here are details including the jury members, the various prizes, and the restricted and required repertoire that the pianists must select from:
https://classicpiano.eu/competition
Russian and Asian pianists dominated this year, with veteran Andrey Gugnin of Russia (below and in the YouTube video at the bottom) taking home the first prize of 100,000 Euros ($108,300) plus 10 concert dates and a 50,000-Euro honorarium for performing with two different orchestras: the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra. Gugnin, who protested Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now lives in Croatia.
Here is a link to the story with the complete list of winners:
Like many major music competitions these days, Dubai’s was live-streamed. Its global media partners are medici.tv; euronews; and bachtrack. You can or will soon be able to find various artists and rounds of the competition on YouTube.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #YouTubevideo, 2017, 2018, 2024, America, Arab, Arab world, Arabic, Armenia, Armenia State Symphony Orchestra, Arthur Rubinstein, Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition, Arts, Asia, asian, audience, Australia, Austria, Bach, bachtrack, Baroque, Beethoven, Belgium, blog, Chamber music, China, Chinese, Chopin, Classic Piano International Competition, Classical music, competitors, composer, Concert, concerto, country, culture, desert, dollar, Dubai, Early music, England, etude, euro, euronews, Facebook, festival, fourth, France, global, Great Britain, Gulf of Arabia, Gulf states, Haydn, honorarium, international, International Tchaikovsky Competition, invasion, invitation, invite, Islam, Islamic, Israel, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kazakhstan, Korean, Leeds, link, Liszt, live-stream, Ludwig van Beethoven, media, medici.tv, Middle East, Middle Eastern, Mideast, money, Mozart, Music, nation, national, oil, online, Orchestra, Oxford, Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, partner, perform, performer, Pianist, Piano, piano competitions, prestige, prize, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Rachmaninov, recital, repertoire, repertory, Russia, Russian, Saudi Arabia, Scriabin, share, Sonata, South Korean, Spain, stream, symphony, tag, Tchaikovsky, The Ear, The Violin Channel, third, tour, U.S., UAE, UK, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, US, USA, Van Cliburn, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, venue, Violin, Violin Channel, Website, Western culture, winner, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, world, YouTube
Here are winners of major international music competitions in 2023. What’s next?
Leave a Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
Which young, up-and-coming classical musicians should you keep an eye on during the coming year?
Which ones, if any, will be booked in coming years to performance locally, say, at the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Wisconsin Union Theater; or at the Salon Piano Series; or as a University of Wisconsin Mead Witter School of Music guest artist?
One guide to 2024 and beyond might be to review the winners of the international music competitions held in 2023.
Thanks to The Violin Channel, here is a list of many such winners who may go on to establish more prominent careers. If you click on the names of the competitions, posted in red, you will be linked to fuller stories about the competitions, many of which you have probably never heard of. The Ear follows many contests but had never heard of many of these.
Here is a link:
You can find out about histories of the competitions, other prize winners, places they are held and how often, jury members and contest rules and formats, and more. And you can hear excerpts from some prestigious competitions including the Bischoff Chamber Music competition and a competition for young child prodigy violinists in Italy.
At the bottom of the story, you can hear a YouTube video with the 19-year-old, Asian-American pianist Magdelena Ho in her contest-winning performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 at the Clara Haskil Competition in Switzerland. She looks to have a promising future.
The winners came all continents — Asian, Africa, North America, South America and Europe.
And the competitions were held in many different places and focused on many different kinds or genres of classical music: violin, viola, cello, double bass and guitar; piano; saxophone;mharp; percussion and drums; chamber music and symphonic music; conducting; singing; and early music.
At the bottom is a vibrant performance of a familiar Bach suite by Canadian cellist Luka Coetzee who won Finland’s Paulo Competition and also took first prize at the Pablo Casals Competition on 2022.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #Up-and-Coming, #YouTubevideo, 2023, 2024, Africa, African, America, American, Android, Ann Arbor, Apple, Arts, Asia, asian, audience, Bach, Baroque, Beethoven, Bischoff, blog, Bonn, Boston, brass, Canada, Canadian, Cello, Chamber music, Child, children, China, Chinese, choral music, Clara Haskil, Classical, Classical music, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, continent, contralto, double bass, drums, Early music, Europe, Facebook, Finland, Finnish, format, France, French, future, genre, geography, German, Germany, Google, guest artist, guitar, Hanover, harp, History, Ho, international, Italian, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kim, kind, Korean, Leonid Kogan, link, Ludwig van Beethoven, Mac, MacBook, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Massachusetts, Mead Witter School of Music, Michigan, Mozart, Music, music competition, Musician, North America, opera, Orchestra, OS, Overture Center, PC, Penderecki, percussion, perform, performance, Pianist, Piano, Poland, Polisy, prize, prodigies, prodigy, Romania, Romanian, rules, Russia, Russian, Salon Piano Series, Saxophone, Serge Koussevitsky, share, singer, Singing, Sonata, song, soprano, South Africa, South African, South America, South Korea, South Korean, stream, strong, study, Suite, Swiss, Switzerland, symphony, tag, Teacher, The Ear, U.S., United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, UW-Madison, Viola, Violin, Violin Channel, violinist, violist, vocal music, Wee, win, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Wisconsin Union Theater, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, won, year, young, young artists, YouTube
Remembering the classical musicians who died in 2023
3 Comments
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
It remains an end-of-the-year ritual: remembering the dead who brought beauty to us through music.
Here are remembrances of the classical musicians we lost in 2023.
From Presto Music comes a list of world-known talents who died this past year — plus those who died in recent past years. It is relatively short and has links to the full obituaries, including the of American mezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry (below, in 2009, in the singing the famous Habanera from Bizet’s “Carmen” in the YouTube video at the bottom). A pioneer, she was the first Black singer to perform at the annual summer Wagner festival in Beyreuth, Germany, and she performed at the Wisconsin Union Theater during the 1978-79 season:
https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/articles/obituary/browse
Here is a longer, less renowned and more international list from The Violin Channel.
It includes many very well known musicians, including Menahem Pressler (below who co-founded and played for more than 50 years with the Beaux Arts Trio, which performed several times at the Wisconsin Union Theater. He also taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
It also includes the jazz and classical bassist Richard Davis (below), who spent decades teaching and performing at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music.
The Ear especially likes this list because ordinary “house” musicians — and not just stars — are remembered. After all, the majority of musicians who add so much to our lives are not stars — but usually just mainstream workers in the arts.
Click on the names in red to see the full biographies, many of which are more touching than you might expect — for example, the Ukrainian conductor who died young while defending his country against Russia.
Tags: #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #YouTubevideo, 2023, African American, America, American, André Watts, Android, Apple, aria, Arts, Asia, asian, audience, Austria, Bach, baritone, Baroque, bass, Bayreuth, beauty, Beaux Arts Trio, Beethoven, Belgium, Berlin Philharmonic, biographies, Bizet, black, blog, Britain, Carmen, Cello, Chamber music, Choir, choral music, Classical, Classical music, Colombia, composer, Concert, concerto, conductor, Czech, Czech Republic, dead, death, dying, Early music, end, England, English, Facebook, famous, festival, Finland, Finnish, France, Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, German, Germany, Google, Grace Bumbry, Greece, Greek, Habanera, Hong Kong, House, Hungary, I Musici, Indiana University, Ingrid Haebler, international, Israel, Italy, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Japanese, Jazz, Jewish, Johann Sebastian Bach, Kaija Saariaho, know, Korea, Korean, Latvia, life, link, Liszt, lives, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Mead Witter School of Music, meaning, Menahem Pressler, mezzo-sorpano, Mozart, Mozart in the Jungle, Music, Musician, Netherlands, New Year, obituaries, obituary, Oboe, opera, Orchestra, OS, Oscars, Overture Center, passed, passing, perform, performance, performer, performing, Pianist, Piano, Piano Trio, popular, Prague, Presto Music, remember, remembrance, Renata Scotto, Richard Davis, ritual, Romania, Russia, Russian, Sakamoto, Scotland, share, singer, Singing, Sonata, South Korea, South Korean, star, String quartet, strings, summer, symphony, tag, teach, Teacher, tenor, The Ear, Turkey, Turkish, U.S., UK, Ukraine, Ukrainian, United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, UW, Viola, Violin, Violin Channel, vocal music, Wagner, winds, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Union Theater, woodwinds, worker, working, year, YouTube
Recent Comments
 | Brian Jefferies on Classical music: A major reass… |
 | welltemperedear on What made Beethoven sick and… |
 | rlhess5d5b7e5dff on What made Beethoven sick and… |
| welltemperedear on Beethoven’s Ninth turns 200… |
 | Robert Graebner on Beethoven’s Ninth turns 200… |
The Well-Tempered Ear 