Piano - my/maSCENA

Eight pianists representing six countries advance to the finals of the CMIM

By Newswire on 30 April 2021 Music Competition, Piano

MONTRÉAL, QC – April 30, 2021 2:15 ET p.m. – Concours Musical International de Montréal (CMIM) has announced the names of the eight pianists who will participate in the Final Round of its 19th edition. The international jury of nine, presided over by Mr. Zarin Mehta, met remotely to identify the eight outstanding competitors. The jury, spread over three continents, includes Arnaldo Cohen (United States), Martin Engstroem (Sweden), Till Fellner (Austria), Mari Kodama (Japan), Hélène Mercier (Canada), Costa Pilavachi (Canada), Charles Richard-Hamelin (Canada), Rena Shereshevskaya (Russia) and Susan Wadsworth (United States). The eight finalists will return to concert halls to…

Canadian Tony Yike Yang makes semifinals of Leeds International Piano Competition

By Newswire on 22 April 2021 Music Competition, Piano

Despite the logistical challenges posed by the global pandemic, The Leeds International Piano Competition’s First Round jury was able to view and listen online to the 62 First Round pianists performing in identical conditions from 17 cities across the world. The Semi-Finals and Finals of The Leeds will take place at the University of Leeds and Leeds Town Hall this September. All rounds will be streamed worldwide by medici.tv, with the Semi-Finals and Finals broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and the Finals aired on BBC Four. The Concerto Final performances take place at Leeds Town Hall with The Leeds’ new orchestral partners, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra,…

Joon Yoon, South Korea

CMIM 2021: Predictions

By Justin Bernard on 9 April 2021 Music Competition, Piano

By way of briefing you fully on the 2021 edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM), we have listened to all 27 candidates and established a list of potential winners. In the previous piano edition in 2017, 28 pianists competed and six reached the final. In addition to the first, second and third prizes, which reward the best of the best, seven special prizes were awarded during this competition, including a Bach Prize and a Chopin Prize. Here are my predictions for the 2021 edition. Finalists Among the six finalists, we could find both experienced pianists such as…

CMIM 2021: Participants

By Justin Bernard on 8 April 2021 Music Competition, Piano

CANADA KEVIN AHFAT NÉ EN / BORN IN 1994 PROFESSEURS / TEACHERS Joseph Kalichstein Stephen Hough PRIX / PRIZES 2018 Concours OSM-Manuvie 2e prix, prix de la meilleure interprétation de l’œuvre canadienne imposée, prix Orford Musique 2017 Juilliard Concerto Competition – 1er prix RÉPERTOIRE • Berg Sonate op. 1 • Schumann Kinderszenen • Beethoven Sonate op. 110  • Szymanowski Variations sur un thème populaire polonais op. 10 ALICE BURLA NÉE EN / BORN IN 1996 PROFESSEURS / TEACHERS Oxana Yablonskaya Dmitri Bashkirov PRIX / PRIZES 2020 Kiefer Hablitzel | Göhner Music – prix Collard 2020 Prix Schenk Foundation 2019 Concours…

Susan Wadsworth: “The way young pianists play is just phenomenal”

By Jacqueline Vanasse on 8 April 2021 Music Competition, Piano

The sudden closing of international borders last year had an immediate and inevitable effect on the 2020 edition of Concours musical international de Montréal. But rather than cancel the event, the CMIM invited the competitors to come back in 2021 – digitally. Susan Wadsworth, one of nine judges, listened to the preliminary round last year and is looking forward to hearing the candidates again. “I think the competition attracts a very, very high level,” she says. “I was amazed that there were at least 10 pianists in the preliminary round who I thought were outstandingly fantastic.” What makes a musician…

Merkin Hall, New York City

CMIM 2021: A competition like no other

By Arthur Kaptainis on 7 April 2021 Music Competition, Piano

“It’s the biggest logistical challenge of my career,” Christiane LeBlanc, executive and artistic director of the Concours musical international de Montréal, said about the prospect of organizing a competition from the end of April through the middle of May.   This statement might seem odd, since none of the contestants or jurors have to be flown to Montreal and suitably housed. Nor is there any need to book the Maison symphonique or the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. The competition this year, devoted to the piano, is entirely solo and entirely online. And available free to enthusiasts around the world. The 26…

Album Ravel: Impressionism in all its facets

By Justin Bernard on 7 April 2021 Discovery CDs, Piano

After an album dedicated to Jacques Hétu’s piano concertos, which earned him a nomination for the 2021 Juno Awards, pianist Jean-Philippe Sylvestre is back with a new release on ATMA Classique. This virtuoso, already known for his recordings of André Mathieu and Rachmaninoff, here makes his first foray into Ravel’s musical universe. Genesis of the project “Since we had an Érard piano at our disposal, which I really like, I thought I had to use it,” he says. “I called Johanne Goyette from ATMA and spoke to my philanthropist friend [Jacques Marchand, who acquired this piano in 2018] and explained…

Festival Stella Musica: 6th edition in memory of Anne-Marie Trahan

By Justin Bernard on 7 April 2021 Canadian Music, Opera, Piano

Initially scheduled for spring 2020, but postponed for a year because of the pandemic, the sixth edition of the Stella Musica Festival will be presented for the first time in a hybrid way, in front of a live audience in the Gesù amphitheatre – if health measures permit this – and online. The traditional networking evening cannot take place, but the Stella Musica Festival will nonetheless pursue the mission that has inspired it since its inception: supporting women composers, women performers and, more broadly, highlighting the contribution of women in the world of music and the arts, including in leadership…

Dr. John Burge

Works by Canadian composer John Burge on the program of the 19th CMIM

By Newswire on 18 March 2021 Music Competition, Piano

Montréal, March 18th 2021 – Canadian composer John Burge will be on the program at the 19th edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal John Burge – Compulsory Canadian Work All competitors taking part in the 2021 Piano edition must prepare to perform three of the Canadian composer’s Twenty-four Preludes as part of the final round. These three pieces have been selected from John Burge’s work entitled Twenty-four Preludes, inspired by Chopin’s Opus 28, as well as Debussy’s two books of Preludes. The first piece, “Allegro energico” produces an effect of continuous movement with its incessant 16th-note passages. The…

Peter Jablonski

The Lebrecht Weekly: Alexey Stanchinsky – Piano works (Ondine)

By Norman Lebrecht on 12 March 2021 Lebrecht Weekly, Piano

In the evolution of Russian music, Stanchinsky is the great might-have-been. A student of Sergey Taneyev and Alexander Grechaninov, he was introduced to Tolstoy as the next Russian genius, only for his mental health to collapse in the midst of a double family crisis. After father died in 1910 when Stanchinsky was 21, his mother refused to let him marry his pregnant lover, daughter of the estate manager. Suffering depression and hallucinations, Stanchnsky was taken around all the best nerve doctors in Russia and developed a habit of burning any new works he set on paper. In March 1914 he…

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