How do stars appear?

Yuri Zilberman, the general director of the Vladimir Horowitz International Young Pianists’ Competition, celebrated his 60th birthday on Nov. 4. His fanatical dedication to his metier and prolific energy are the key to the success of all his creative projects. Besides the International Vladimir Horowitz Charitable Fund and the Horowitz competition, which is part of the European Union of International Music Competitions for Youth and the World Federation of International Music Competitions, there is also an offshoot known as the Horowitz Debut. He is also involved in the Kyiv Summer Musical Soirees, Summer Music Academy, publishing projects, concert tours, concerts starring competition winners, and collaboration with other music organizations.

CONCERT TOURS

“Six concerts are scheduled for Dusseldorf, Aachen, Essen, Bochum, and Stuttgart,” Zilberman told me. “I will be negotiating the expansion of our creative contacts with the directors of higher music schools: participation in contests, master classes, and student exchanges. Three young pianists will take part in this trip: Vladimir Guryanov (Russia), Mimi Wang Jue (China), and Miao Huang (Germany), all three of whom are winners of the Horowitz Competition. Incidentally, during the summer-fall period our laureates have performed in Russia, Estonia, Poland, Italy, Serbia, Norway, Germany, and the US. One of the features of the Horowitz Competition is that we never part with our competitors; we help and look after them.”

ABOUT THE FUND

“On Dec. 12 the National Philharmonic Society of Ukraine will host a concert commemorating the Horowitz Fund’s 10th jubilee. We are planning an interesting project called ‘Stars of the Planet,’ which will be a festival of young performers, the first-prize winners at the world’s most prestigious competitions (not just for piano).We want not just individual performers but also Ukraine’s best symphony orchestras to perform in this festival. We are looking for sponsors because this is a large-scale project. Unfortunately, we don’t have a concert hall of our own. None of those in Kyiv are suitable for a city with a population of three million. The Philharmonic Society seats 594, of which 200 seats are “blind,” and this hall is catastrophically small. (By way of comparison, European cities with 60,000 residents have halls that can seat at least 3,000 people). Even the Summer Open Air Stage (1,000 seats) cannot accommodate all those who want to attend our Summer Musical Soirees concert series. It is unfortunate that this problem hasn’t been solved over the years”

GLIERE MUSIC COLLEGE

“This college is still at the top because we continue to provide a classical music education. We have preserved its aura and the system that was formed in the 19th-20th centuries. We are not following the easy road by setting up fashionable faculties. Our position is consciously conservative, which is aimed at preserving the great traditions of the past.”

ABOUT THE ASSOCIATION

“Professional associations all over the world are a means of acquiring and exchanging information. Associations of competitions began to appear in the mid-20th century. In 1956 the World Federation of International Music Competitions was created, followed by European and national ones. The Association of Academic Music Competitions was established in 2000. Its role is primarily educational. It has been publishing the bulletin Visnyk asotsiatsii (Association Herald) announcing competitions and festivals in Ukraine and elsewhere in the world, as well as concert tours, concerts, and winners. Copies of the Visnyk are sent not only to association members but also music schools. We provide methodological assistance to the ‘growing’ competitions; in Europe there are more competitions in every big city than in all of Ukraine. The association includes adult and youth competitions.

“We publish collections of articles dealing with music (18 have appeared in print since 1997). These are very useful for students, postgrads, and applicants who need Higher Attestation Commission publications. These include articles by music critics as well as teachers and students of Gliere College, which is subordinated to the National Music Academy of Ukraine. In addition, we have released small print runs of several books, including the two-volume Travels of Glinka (by S. Tyshko and S. Mamayev), the Lyatoshynsky-Gliere correspondence (compiled by M. Kopytsia), and two of my books (one written in collaboration with Yu. Smilianska). This is an absolutely nonprofit activity; we offer books as gifts more often than we sell them.”

ABOUT HOROWITZ

“A new book about Horowitz is being prepared for publication. We have accumulated a lot of sensational material. Everything that is known to date about the Horowitz family is superficial data as a rule, with numerous factual mistakes. A lot of documents have since become available, which shed light on the family’s tragic fate. This information is there for everyone to see, yet no one seems interested in collecting and compiling this data. The truth must be established, contrary to the superficial and indifferent understanding of Horowitz that has formed in the West. Little if anything has been done to investigate the creative tasks, style, and technique of this great pianist whose work marked a turning point in musical art. When they start studying his creative legacy, they will need the biographical material that will be contained in this book. A musician’s creative thinking can be perceived only after learning the ideas that nourished him. Horowitz’s Kyiv Symphony, for example, recreates the cultural atmosphere in which the musician was raised, along with the roots of his character and creative personality. The book will include a unique document, an entry from the register of births discovered in the Kyiv City Archive, which dots the i’s and crosses the t’s in the dispute concerning Horowitz’s date and place of birth. He was indeed born on Oct. 1, 1903, in Kyiv, in the family of Samuel Horowitz.

“The other book describes the tragic destiny of his family and its impact on the pianist’s creativity. It is an established fact, for instance, that his father was arrested three times in 1918-21 and that he died in the camps, and that 14-year-old Vladimir’s world view was shattered because he had spent his childhood in a relatively prosperous material and moral environment, in the family of one of Kyiv’s wealthiest and most renowned engineers. I believe that the topic of Horowitz in 1922-25, after he completed the conservatory, is extremely interesting. It is remarkable how the pianist turned into a legendary performer within three years of concert touring. Fresh from the conservatory, Horowitz, who was known only for the rapidity and intensity of his playing, later reached a virtuoso level of playing. In three years he prepared 11 concert programs consisting of 155 works.”

The Day congratulates this Horowitz researcher, who has restored the celebrated Kyivan’s name to his native land. In the past ten years the young winners of the Vladimir Horowitz International Competition for Young Pianists have become distinguished professionals thanks to Zilberman and his team, who have made this prestigious competition known throughout the world.