Changes to be Made in Vladimir Horowitz Memorial Contest

For the participants it will mean less stringent repertoire regulations, but most importantly the contest is confidently on its way to be included in the World Federation of International Music Contests and its requirements are very demanding and music-education-oriented according to the Western standard. In the West, a musician forms only by 25 years of age and the notion of a virtuoso wonder boy is practically nonexistent. 14 years is the lowest age margin for serious competition, so the Horowitz organizers had to detach the senior age group (currently having a 35-year ceiling) and the medium one from the junior group. Thus in the spring of 2001 Kyiv will host only two senior age groups and the junior one will be here even earlier in November 2000.

And another innovation: the Horowitz Debut Contest will start simultaneously with the junior division. Debut contestants, aged over 14, will be subject to less exacting repertoire qualifications than the Horowitz proper to make it easier to actually assess their creative potentialities. Finally, the previously compulsory qualifiers will from now on be considered the first round, and there will be four rounds in all. The number of contestants in the junior group and Horowitz Debut will be known after receiving all applications; the medium and senior divisions are expected to have at least 150 contenders. Such optimistic forecasts are explained by the presence of 23 applications even now, prior to the forwarding of official brochures, including countries that did not vie in the last contest (e.g., Poland, Spain, Germany, and France).