Virtuoso parade

“Ukraine in search of talents, ” “Ukraine has got talent” – these slogans are known to everybody. However, we should probably add one more: “Ukraine cherishes its talents,” takes care of them, and gradually puts these young talented people into the European and world art orbits. In short, we are talking about the unique International Pianists Contest in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz in the “Horowitz-Debut” category and the junior group, which has just taken place in Kyiv for the ninth time and has drawn a wide response. Young musicians from 14 countries took part in it this year: Great Britain, Canada, China, Latvia, Moldova, Germany, Poland, Russia, the US, Ukraine, France, Switzerland and Japan. We remind our readers that the “Horowitz-Debut” appeared back in 2000 as a one-round competition. This model was supposed to answer the prospective purpose of the contest organizers. First of all it gives a possibility to reveal the real talent of future virtuosos at an early age. It makes taking care of young pianists and constantly accompanying them in their artistic growth much easier.

The Vladimir Horowitz Contest has attracted the attention of professionals: pianists, students and teachers of specialized institutions and art schools, teachers of music schools and professors of music institutions of higher education from different countries. This year the jury comprised the head Valerii Kozlov, professor at the Tchaikovsky National Ukrainian Art Academy, Valida Rassoulova-Suk, professor at the New York Music School (the US), Graham Scott, the head of the piano department of the Royal College of Music (Great Britain), Barbara Szepanska, the Professor of Schumann High School (Germany) and Lev Shugom, a People’s Artist of Russia and Chancellor and professor at the Sobinov Conservatory in Saratov.

UKRAINIAN PIANISTS WERE THE STRONGEST TEAM

This year the forum was a breakthrough for a number of reasons. First, young Ukrainian pianists were the strongest team: they received 17 awards in different nominations! In a few years those starlets will turn into real adult stars of the European or even world stage: Mykyta Burzanitsa, Erik Tkachenko, Anna Nakonechna, Mykola Pushkariov, Maria-Luisa Plieshakova, Kateryna Khomiakova, Oleksii Kanke and others. It gave the judges a chance to say that the Ukrainian pianists are exceptionally gifted and well-prepared. Rasulova-Suk remarked that “Ukraine is a special country where there are so many talented children and ‘they mushroom up.’”

Scott confessed that he was impressed by the skillful and mature performances, especially given that the musicians were so young. Szepanska noticed that it was very interesting and useful to discover the piano music of little-known Ukrainian composers. It’s symbolical that the Prize of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture “For the rendition of the Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk’s Concerto №1” was given to Mykyta Burzanitsa from Kyiv, and the youngest participant, the six-year-old Tszan Sijan from China, that was given the prize “The Hope,” for his performance of the play The Ukrainian Dance by Mykhailo Stepanenko.

At the same time the brilliant victories of the representatives of the Chinese and Japanese piano schools in the youngest age category were a real “expansion” of this year’s contest. Cao Bolai from China, a gold medalist, impressed the jury and the audience by his exquisite and noble interpretation of Mozart’s Piano Concerto and by the phenomenal technical perfection he demonstrated with Liszt’s Tarantella. Tian Yuan Liu and Wang Yinuo from China, the recipients of the second and third prizes, fascinated the audience with their mature emotional rendering of Liszt’s Rhapsody №12, Debussy’s The Firework and Schedrin’s compositions. Matsuda Kanon from Japan, the representative of the Moscow piano school and winner of the third prize, impressed the audience by her temperament, sincerity and brilliant virtuosic performance, worthy of Vladimir Horowitz.

It’s interesting that the contest had a team of independent experts, a student jury that gave their prize to the young Swiss pianist Burki Simon.

THE CONCERT EXCHANGE

The jury unanimously favorably assessed the organization and holding of the contest: they emphasized the perfect and coordinated work of all the parts of the complicated mechanism that such a prestigious contest is. It was headed by its permanent Director General Yuri Zilberman. The European standards of the competition were demonstrated by the online Internet transmission of the two last rounds.

The high creative potential of the competition is proved every year by its new initiatives, aimed at creating a powerful art energetic field going beyond Ukraine. Back in 1998 they started “The School of Masterly Performance,” later called the International “Summer Music Academy.” Actually, the long-standing tradition to hold open-air concerts on the summer ground of the central amusement park on the Dnipro hills, beloved by Kyivans, was resumed due to the contest. The cross-cultural context of these events is telling: over the 13 “Kyiv Summer Music Soirees” there have been around 350 concerts, in which 786 soloists and 166 musical bands from about 30 countries took part. The numerous initiatives of the event were the strongest argument to approve its membership in the World Federation of International Music Contests (WFIMC). One year later this organization supported a further initiative — holding the festival “Virtuosos of the Planet,” which would invite the laureates of many international contests, members of WFIMC. Our young winners actively participate in world culture and get a unique opportunity to perform all over the globe. There’s a certain concert exchange between the Horowitz Contest laureates and the winners of numerous contests in Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Italy, etc. According to international experts, the concerts of the festival “Virtuosos of the Planet” are among the most prestigious cultural events in Ukraine.

“Our country is one of the leading contest countries,” emphasized the pianist, composer, professor at the National Ukrainian Art Academy Mykhailo Stepanenko. “We hold contests in memory of the most outstanding figures of the last century: Mykola Lysenko, Sergei Prokofiev, Sviatoslav Richter, Vasyl Barvinsky and Vladimir Horowitz. It’s extremely important for us that Ukraine has become a center attracting top pianists. The musicians who have repeatedly won numerous world contests come to ours. At the same time not only adult pianists who have already developed and acquired the status of world stars want to come to the spotlight. For many young talented Ukrainians the Horowitz Contest is a certain springboard on their way to the summits of world piano playing. In the framework of this multistage competition they gradually reveal their musical potential and dot the clear prospects of the development of their future artistic individuality.”