sydney international piano competition

[ada]

Hi there, is anyone entering this?

[zp3929]

is there a website for it?

[jinfiesto]

I had a friend enter... Charlie albright...

[ada]

Here's the website:
http://www.sipca.com.au/

and you can find competitors here:
http://www.sipca.com.au/

Good luck to charlie, I'll look out for him 

[general disarray]

ada, are you an entrant? 

If not, are you a judge?

If not that, are you a rich Aussie who'll pay my flight over there and put me up in fancy Sydney digs so I can compete in luxury?

Love Sydney!

[thierry13]

ada, are you an entrant? 

If not, are you a judge?

If not that, are you a rich Aussie who'll pay my flight over there and put me up in fancy Sydney digs so I can compete in luxury?

Love Sydney!

Are you a competitor ?

[ada]

ada, are you an entrant? 

If not, are you a judge?

If not that, are you a rich Aussie who'll pay my flight over there and put me up in fancy Sydney digs so I can compete in luxury?

Love Sydney!

1. I wish 
2. God no 
3. er, sadly no on both accounts 

But I will be following the comp closely for other reasons 

[general disarray]

Are you a competitor ?

Nope.  Just an also-ran looking for free passage to Australia.

Besides, I'm with Bartok:  competitions are for horses.

[general disarray]

1. I wish 
2. God no 
3. er, sadly no on both accounts 

But I will be following the comp closely for other reasons 

me, too.  it's a kick discovering how many truly talented pianists are out there. 

[aewanko]

Besides, I'm with Bartok:  competitions are for horses.

It's really like that in every competition. "Horse-racing" the piano.

[lostinidlewonder]

Have you seen how much you have to play? It is insane. Learning the commissioned piece which is always incredibly hard in such a short time (3 months) is also a big challenge, let alone ensuring everything else is at the highest level possible. For me it would be daunting to say the least. I love listening to this on Australia's classic FM though, its certainly a highlight!

    


All competitors will play in Stages I and II.

Accurate timings of the chosen works must be included. No works, whether own choice or listed repertoire, may be repeated in another stage.

Stage I Recital 20 minutes
1    One virtuoso study by Chopin, Liszt, Scriabin or Rachmaninov.
2    The remainder of the program will be own choice of works by two (2) other composers. One or more works of each chosen composer may be played.

Stage II Recital 20 minutes
1    One prelude from either Preludes Books I or II (except Book I No 7) by Debussy.
2    The remainder of the program will be own choice of works by two (2) other composers other than Debussy and the two own choice composers chosen in Stage I. One or more works of each chosen composer may be played.
Twenty (20) competitors will be chosen for the Quarter-Finals Stage III.


Quarter-Finals
Stage III Recital 40 minutes
1    One sonata by Haydn, Clementi or Mozart
2    One commissioned work written by an Australian composer, either Andrew Ford or Roger Smalley. Each work will be 5-6 minutes in duration and will be sent to competitors three (3) months before the Competition.
3    The remainder of the program will be own choice of works by one or more composers other than the composer of the sonata chosen in 1 above.
Twelve (12) competitors will be chosen for the Semi-Finals Stage IV.


Semi-Finals
Stage IV Recital + Chamber Music
Each competitor will present a 50 minute recital and one chamber music work.

Recital 50 minutes
1    One sonata by Beethoven or Schubert.
2    The remainder of the program will be the competitor's own choice.

Chamber Music
Each competitor will present one trio with Helen Ayres and Timothy Nankervis or Dimity Hall and Julian Smiles:
Arensky No. 1 Op. 32 (D minor)    Mendelssohn Op. 49 (D minor)
Beethoven Op. 97 (Archduke)    Ravel (A minor)
Brahms Op. 8 (B major)    Schubert Op. 99 (Bb major)
Shostakovich Op. 67 (E minor)    
Six (6) competitors will be chosen for the Finals Stage V.


Finals Stage V     2 Concertos
Competitors will play one concerto from each of the following groups:

Group 1    Mozart    K453, K466, K467, K503, K537, K595
Group 2    Bartòk    Nos. 2 or 3
   Beethoven    Nos. 3, 4 or 5
   Brahms    Nos. 1 or 2
   Chopin    Nos. 1 or 2
   Liszt    Nos. 1 or 2 or Totentanz or Wanderer Fantasy
   Prokofiev    Nos. 2 or 3
   Rachmaninov    Nos. 1 or 2 or 3 or Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini
   Ravel    G major
   Saint-Saëns    Nos. 2 or 4 or 5
   Schumann    Op. 54
   Scriabin    Op. 20
   Tchaikovsky    Nos. 1 or 2

Competitors will perform both concertos with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The conductor for the Mozart Concertos will be Nicholas Milton, whose appearances are supported by a donation from The Paspaley Pearling Company Pty Ltd.
The conductor for the 19th / 20th Concertos will be Kirill Karabits, whose appearances are supported by a donation from Mrs Joan Levy in remembrance of Mr Wal Levy.

[enderw20]

Holy crap.

[nyonyo]

Sydney Competition is one of the toughest piano competition, if not the toughest!

Just to get chosen to compete is already an honor. My teacher won fifth place long time ago.

[thierry13]

Sydney Competition is one of the toughest piano competition, if not the toughest!

Just to get chosen to compete is already an honor. My teacher won fifth place long time ago.

I agree that just to get chosen to compete is an honor, but it is not THE toughest. Cliburn, Tchaikovsky, Chopin are still tougher, I think.

[nyonyo]

I can agree with VC and Tschaikovsky, but Chopin is more a specialized competition. The Sydney, VC and Tsc are more well rounded competition. It is very difficult to play all kinds of style well. I am not saying that playing Chopin well is easier, just if somebody who happened to be good in Chopin, he or she will have better chance in Chopin Competition than VC or Tsc.

In Tsch, do they require the contestant to perform new pieces written by whomever the organizers chose?. In Sydney and VC, they must play a new composition.

[popdog]

Has any one else been listening so far?  It's been pretty good, but I've heard the Winter Wind etude at least 10 times by now...

[dora96]

G'day from down under,

I just turn on the FM, and I am listening right now. It is amazing. Honestly, I don't know how these people do it. It seems that their destinies have been made before they are even born. It is mind blowing how do they learn these sort of repertoires, not only can play it, memorize it and know it inside and out and interpreted. How and where do they find a teacher even know how to teach them and perform it. They must be performing since they were baby.

I mean ordinary pianists where can they get these sort resources for start and opportunities to train for these kind of event. I am finding venue for myself and my daughter, just to get performance experience. It is not that easy. What I do just nick of the ice berg beyond compare. However, just not even think to  compare to anyone, I tell my daughter all you can do just enjoy music, make music and learning  part of your life. Different level and music serve different purpose that all we can do.

[popdog]

Nearly all, if not all of these pianists started between 3-6 years of age and are extremely dedicated - that's how they get to this high level. 

Beethoven's op.54 at the moment.  Looking forward to the Brahms...

[musicman]

I have listened to most of the competition so far on the FM. The comments by Gerard Willems after each set of competitors are very helpful, especially in matters of interpretation.

As I am playing or learning a few of the Rachmaninov Etudes-Tableaux, I am especially interested in these, especially Op 39 no. 5 (E flat minor).

On one of the performances of Chopin's 'Winter Wind' study, it went so fast that I wondered whether a Severe Wind Warning might have been appropriate. Perhaps the player was nervous; it was a shame the right hand got ahead of the left at times.

I think the Liszt Dante Sonata is on this evening (Sydney time).

[lostinidlewonder]

I was late for a lesson on Friday because I couldn't leave the radio lol. I was listening to the First round begin last week, the quality of the playing is always so great. What was interesting was that there was something like 80% more boys than girls who auditioned for the competition yet there is a pretty even spread of boys and girls competing. I wonder if this is trying to balance the sexes? Maybe boys are just more competitive than girls

Some recordings from players on pianoforum however I think are better than what is played by some competitors in the Sydney comp:) But I guess we have to realize that these guys have over 4 hours of music prepared for this competition. How hard would it be to make all of your pieces a masterpiece! The Ravel Gaspard de la Nuit Ondine played on Friday was immaculate!

Repeated performances of same pieces will probably get more annoying when they play the commissioned piece Its nice to hear the different interpretations of the same piece though, the Wagner-Liszt Tristan und Isolde was certainly played much better on Friday.

[musicman]

I think they are improving as the competition progresses; there seem to be a lot less of the nervous stumbles that happened in some of the Stage 1 performances.

I'm tipping the top 6 finalists will be roughly split between the Chinese and Russian pianists, with possibly one of the Australians coming lower down the order.

[dora96]

I have been on and off listening to the competition. It is amazing. Sadly, I always miss the comments on the judger. Is that anyway I can find the copy of the comments and technique comments competitors?

This is first time, I have been listening to live competition. I am so proud that Sydney is hosting this event. Sometimes, I feel that not many people are interested in classical music, the Aussie more like sport than any other thing. I am sick of talking about footballer. This is such as amazing event, no national news has mentioned about this yet. I am just wondering "WHY"

[musicman]

The comments on the performances are not actually from any of the judges, Gerard Willems is a respected Sydney piano teacher and I think was at one time on the competition's jury. But his comments are very very insightful and I have found them helpful where they related to something I might play myself. I've not heard the concertos so far, the plethora of Mozart concertos is in my view overbalanced and a turn-off. I suppose it's because he is the one composer whose music really exposes any flaws in its performance.

What surprised me most about this stage however was the total absence of anything by Rachmaninov. I just hope that difficult works such as Prokofiev aren't being chosen purely out of the possibility that a win with it might be a means of making money rather than also being for the sake of the music itself. I think there must be a balance between them, to the extent that it doesn't exist already.

As for the media, forget about them. This might seem unfair, but going by what's reported in local news media in Sydney, they only like sensationalism, or something they can distort and twist. A lot of them think they know what's good for everybody else, especially if it means panic-mongering.

Music is too pure for some of those people. We should keep it that way.

[birba]

Nope.  Just an also-ran looking for free passage to Australia.

Besides, I'm with Bartok:  competitions are for horses.

He may have said that, but he placed second in the Rubenstein contest. Backhaus won first prize.

[birba]

G'day from down under,

I just turn on the FM, and I am listening right now. It is amazing. Honestly, I don't know how these people do it. It seems that their destinies have been made before they are even born. It is mind blowing how do they learn these sort of repertoires, not only can play it, memorize it and know it inside and out and interpreted. How and where do they find a teacher even know how to teach them and perform it. They must be performing since they were baby.

I mean ordinary pianists where can they get these sort resources for start and opportunities to train for these kind of event. I am finding venue for myself and my daughter, just to get performance experience. It is not that easy. What I do just nick of the ice berg beyond compare. However, just not even think to  compare to anyone, I tell my daughter all you can do just enjoy music, make music and learning  part of your life. Different level and music serve different purpose that all we can do.

Those last two sentences are golden.  Well said.

[birba]

What the hell happens to this plethora of brilliant pianists?  When you think of the thousands of competitions every year.  The thousands of pianists...Its mind-boggling.  I think most of them after a few years of concertizing sort of fade away.  The Russians are particularly gifted, I think.  And there are LOTS of them.

[mikey6]

What the hell happens to this plethora of brilliant pianists? 

What is a plethora? 

[birba]

What is a plethora? 
scads, huge amount

[mikey6]

I know, watch 'The 3 Amigos' - it's a joke.

[birba]

I know, watch 'The 3 Amigos' - it's a joke.

I don't get it!

[mikey6]

Watch the 'the 3 amigos' and you will!

[birba]

Watch the 'the 3 amigos' and you will!
Where?!  Youtube?  I know, I'm dense.  Is it a tv programme?

[mikey6]

It's prolly on youtube, my connection is shite atm so I can't be bothered finding it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092086/
The quotes' there today.