Horowitz is returning

For the first time ever Kyiv will host the International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz. The name of our legendary compatriot, who graduated from the Kyiv Higher Music School and became a prominent pianist whom critics dubbed “the 20th century’s last Romantic,” returned to his homeland in 1995.

Horowitz launched a brilliant musical career in the Soviet Union in the 1920s. Unable to accept Soviet power, he went abroad at the age of 22. He performed in the world’s most prestigious concert halls and became known as a virtuoso pianist.

“He was a poet of music,” says the prominent musician Volodymyr Viardo, a many-time jury member of the Horowitz Competition. “I met Mr. Horowitz when I won the Van Clyburn International Piano Competition. I remember him as a funny and unconventional person, a kind of Punch charac ter. Focused on himself, he liked hearing the opinions of professionals about the way he played. For example, you say that his forte sounds too soft, and he may take offense: ‘Why? I played very strongly.’ He was a big child. You won’t find any other musician in the world who could reclaim his place as the world’s premiere pianist after a 12-year interval. Horowitz confessed that he staged a comeback because he missed the audiences and the charge that he got from them. He wanted to feel again that listeners needed him. In my opinion, he had a happy constitution: he always played brilliantly even without daily practice.

“I think that the Horowitz Competition is helping to create new stars in academic music. It is very good that Ukraine still remembers its ‘prodigal son.’ (Although Horowitz lived most of his life in the US, he always warmly recalled Kyiv, his childhood and youth, and his teachers.)”

Today the Horowitz Competition has acquired prestige: it has been a member of the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth (EMCY) since 2002. Since 2004 it has been the only Ukrainian competition that is part of the World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC).

The Day was told by the organizing committee that a total of 738 young pianists from 32 countries have taken part in all the competitions. Apart from piano competitions, every year the management of the Horowitz Competition holds various international festivals, including Kyiv Summer Musical Soirees, Summer Music Academy, the Horowitz-Debut Competition for young musicians, and the Virtuosos of the Planet international festival.

This year 76 pianists from 22 countries will be competing in the Horowitz Competition. Winners will be chosen by a prestigious jury headed by the outstanding Ukrainian composer Myroslav Skoryk. The team of judges will include world-famous musicians from Great Britain, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Israel, the US, Russia, and Ukraine. The competition will consist of two age groups. The middle group (14- to 19- year-olds) has 35 participants: 12 Ukrainians and 23 foreigners. The senior group (16- to25-year-olds) includes 41 participants: 11 Ukrainians and 30 foreigners.

The opening ceremony and the concert will be held as usual at the National Philharmonic. Oleksii Koltakov (Ukraine-Australia), the winner of the 1st Horowitz Competition, will perform. The young musicians will compete in three rounds. Pianists will perform with the Collegium String Quartet and the Philharmonic’s Symphony Orchestra conducted by Miroslaw Jacek Blascik (Poland) and accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine under the baton of Volodymyr Sirenko.

On April 29 the Philharmonic will host the gala concert featuring the winners of the competition. On April 30 the award ceremony will take place at the National Opera of Ukraine, followed by a gala concert featuring the participants and guests of this musical feast.