Euro-2012 to the sound of academic music

This year musicians from 14 countries (Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Italy, Canada, China, Latvia, Lithuania, South Korea, Russia, the US, Ukraine, France, and Japan) will take part in the prestigious international forum. According to the organizers, 143 persons had submitted applications for taking part in the International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz and uploaded 10-minute videos with their performances. After the selection tour 79 participants were chosen: 25 – to the intermediate group (ages 14-19) and 55 – to the senior group (ages 16-33). The cash prizes have grown. So the winner in the intermediate group will received a gold medal and 5,000 dollars, whereas the senior group winner – 20,000 dollars. The winners will also bring home many special valuable prizes.

The feast of music will be launched by a gala concert in the National Philharmonic Society to be opened by Roman Lopatynsky, currently student of the NMAU, who won the first prize of the 8th Horowitz Competition in the intermediate group. Together with the musicians of the National Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Volodymyr Sirenko, the young pianist will perform Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. He will be followed by the winner of the previous Horowitz Competition in senior group Kim Ko Fun (Korea) who will perform Liszt’s First Concert with the Ukrainian orchestra. And the three-round auditions of the competitors will take place in June 9-22. On June 23 in the evening the jury will name the winners, and the laureates will give solo performances, followed by the awarding ceremony as well as the concerts of the first-prize winners will take place. The pianists will perform to the accompaniment of the Symphonic Orchestra of the National Philharmonic Society conducted by Mykola Diadiura. Those who will not have an opportunity to go to the Lysenko Column Hall, will be able to see the online broadcast of the competition on the website horowitzv.org.

“This competition will take place in the aura of the outstanding pianist Vladimir Horowitz and all the musicians bear great responsibility to decently represent their country and piano school as well as show their talent,” the head of jury, well-known composer, professor, rector of the Kyiv-based Gliere Institute of Music Oleksandr Zlotnyk. “A total of 79 competitors from various continents and countries are taking part in this year’s competition. The highest numbers of applicants were from China, Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Hopefully, our piano school will perform on a good level. The jurors include famous pianists and pedagogues from the US, France, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Italy, and China. Hopefully, Euro-2012, which will take place in the same period of time will not only impede the competition, but help it. I think that the huge army of football buffs will include people interested in academic music and it will be interesting for them to visit the selection piano competitions. Incidentally, performing of a Ukrainian composer’s work (which one is up to the participants to choose) is one of the conditions of the Horowitz Competition. The website shows for foreigners a list with the scores of works, which include in particular the compositions by Dmytro Bortniansky, Levko Revutsky, Ivan Karabyts, Ihor Shamo, Myroslav Skoryk etc. Currently the music school of Eastern countries makes itself known in an impressive manner, but I think our competitors will reveal themselves as bright and original performers. You know, new names are always discovered at music competitions.”