4th International Piano Competition "The Muse", September 2008, Greece

[steve v.]

Hello all!


I hope the info about the following competition will be interesting and useful for forum readers.


The 4th International Piano Competition "The Muse" has recently been announced! It will take place on one of the most beautiful islands of Greece – Santorini, from September 2 until 9, 2008.

Documents can be submitted until July 15, 2008

I prize - 5,000 Euros; II prize - 3,000 Euros; III - 2,000 Euros

Preliminary

1. J. S. Bach - Prelude and Fugue from WTC (1st or 2nd book)
2. L. Beethoven - Complete Sonata (except Op. 49 #1, #2, Op. 79, Op. 106)
3. F. Chopin, F. Liszt, S. Rachmaninov or A. Scriabin - One Etude of your choice


Semi-Final
(25-30 minutes maximum)

Free program of participant’s choice, except the compositions from the preliminary round.

Final
One of the following concertos:

J. S. Bach

Concerto #1 d-moll, BWV 1052
Concerto #3 D-dur,  BWV 1054
Concerto #5 f-moll,  BWV 1056
Concerto #7 g-moll, BWV 1058

J. Haydn

Concerto D-dur

W. A. Mozart

Concerto #6  B-dur, K. 238
Concerto #8  C-dur, K. 246
Concerto #9  Es-dur, K. 271
Concerto #11 F-dur, K. 413
Concerto #12 A-dur, К. 414
Concerto #14 Es-dur, К. 449

All other and complete information can be found on the official website: www.themuse.gr/Competition/Competition_2008.html

Thank you and I hope to see you there!

Steve Voutiras
(Organizing Committee)

[steve v.]

Little update, worth mentioning:

This year we are in the happy position to announce that with the added support of our partners, participants advancing to the 2nd round will be offered free hotel accommodation between September 4 and the end of the competition (September 9).

Steve Voutiras
(Organizing Committee)

[thierry13]

The concerto choice is a big turn-off. If I had to do it I'd pick Bach D minor or Mozart 9 but ... an international competition with a 30 minute program and a small classical concerto? I'd call it a Greek national competition, not many people will pay a trip to Greece to do the preliminaries and even if they pass the semifinals ...

[steve v.]

thierry13, I’ll pass on your thoughts to my colleagues, since every opinion might be worth to consider. However, your criteria for the right to be called an international competition is a bit pretentious at least, don’t you think? Should all the young musicians start with competitions such as Queen Elizabeth, Van Cliburn, Leeds, Marguerite Long and Jacques Thibaud, etc. Should they all start playing two full recital programs and one or two symphony concertos? Should all smaller competitions be limited to national competitions? Don’t you think that it would limit young musicians to what they experience, who they interact with, their awareness of different music schools, before they go on and try a real heavy-weight event?

I guess you are a musician yourself, so you should know that there are many levels, peaks, one has to pass to be ready for the top. Besides, I hope you don’t forget that those “small classical concertos” are the most difficult to play and require a lot of technique from both, musical and technical point of view.

Steve

[dnephi]

I personally think that it's an excellent idea for younger, budding pianists.  Besides, you can't hide anything in a classical concerto the way you can in a romantic or 20th century.

I'd consider it if I had a Beethoven sonata and one of those concerti under my belt. 

[thierry13]

However, your criteria for the right to be called an international competition is a bit pretentious at least, don’t you think? Should all the young musicians start with competitions such as Queen Elizabeth, Van Cliburn, Leeds, Marguerite Long and Jacques Thibaud, etc.

Of course hell no. You begin by national competitions  I mean, it's not at all a bad competition, but the point of an international competition is to attract the greatest young pianists among the world, and to give them prizes that will most likely help them begin a career. National competitions help you get up there to do the international ones. I just tought you were still on the national level, doesn't mean it's bad. I'm currently doing the National competition in my country and it's great. I just do not see the point of giving it international notoriety at this point. I would have wait until you got bigger, something like doing it national until you have the budget to do a true international one. I know you won't change it by this point, but I just don't think it's prestigious enough to be called international.