- International Chopin Piano Competition
-
The International Chopin Piano Competition (Polish: Międzynarodowy Konkurs Pianistyczny im. Fryderyka Chopina), often referred to as the Chopin Competition, is a piano competition held in Warsaw, Poland to honour the name of Frédéric Chopin. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious music competitions in the world. It was initiated in 1927 and has been held every five years since 1955. It is one of few competitions devoted entirely to the works of a single composer.[1]
The first competition was founded by the Polish pianist and pedagogue Jerzy Żurawlew. Subsequent editions were organised in 1932 and 1937; the post-war fourth and fifth editions were held in 1949 and 1955. In 1957 the competition became one of the founding members of the World Federation of International Music Competitions in Geneva.
Traditional special awards include the Polish Radio prize for the best Mazurka performance (since 1927), the Fryderyk Chopin Society in Warsaw prize for the best Polonaise (since 1960), and the National Philharmonic prize for the best performance of a Piano Concerto (since 1980).
Contents
Jury
For a more comprehensive list, see List of jurors of the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition.Past members of the jury have included such names as Martha Argerich, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Stefan Askenase, Wilhelm Backhaus, Paul Badura-Skoda, Nadia Boulanger, Dang Thai Son, Bella Davidovich, Philippe Entremont, Fou Ts'ong, Nelson Freire, Vera Gornostayeva, Arthur Hedley, Mieczysław Horszowski, Vladimir Krainev, Marguerite Long, Lazare Lévy, Nikita Magaloff, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Heinrich Neuhaus, Vlado Perlemuter, Maurice Ravel, Arthur Rubinstein, Emil von Sauer, Magda Tagliaferro, and many distinguished Polish pianists, teachers, conductors, as well as composers (for instance Karol Szymanowski and Witold Lutosławski).
Chairman
Traditionally the chairman of the board is a Polish musician:
- Witold Maliszewski, composer (1927)
- Adam Wieniawski, composer (1932 and 1937)
- Zbigniew Drzewiecki, pianist and teacher (1949, 1955, 1960, 1965)
- Kazimierz Sikorski, composer and theoretician (1970 and 1975)
- Kazimierz Kord, conductor (1980)
- Jan Ekier, pianist and teacher (1985, 1990, 1995)
- Andrzej Jasiński, pianist and teacher (2000, 2005, 2010)
Arthur Rubinstein and Jan Ekier have also acted as honorary chairman.
The Ivo Pogorelić case
The tenth edition, in 1980, entered the history of music competitions as a result of heated arguments among members of the jury. The controversy arising from a difference in opinion about a contestant, 22-year-old Yugoslavian pianist Ivo Pogorelić, and his openly provocative style of interpretation and behaviour on the stage, developed into a worldwide scandal. The jury divided into two groups: those who found his playing unacceptable, and those who were enthusiastic or at least approving of his performance, most notably Martha Argerich, Paul Badura-Skoda and Nikita Magaloff. Finally, when Pogorelić did not reach the final fourth stage, Martha Argerich ostentatiously left the jury, announcing that she felt ashamed for having taken part in the judging process. This followed another scandal a few days earlier, when another member of the jury, Louis Kentner, had resigned because of his disapproval of the assessment. However, while Kentner never returned to Warsaw, Martha Argerich has been a juror in subsequent editions of the Chopin Competition up to 2010. After the affair Ivo Pogorelić gained great popularity in Poland and abroad.
Prize winners
See also Category: Prize-winners of the International Frédéric Chopin Piano Competition.Table showing: top 6 prize winners since 1927 Year 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 1927 Lev Oborin
Stanisław Szpinalski
Róża Etkin
Grigory Ginzburg
1932 Alexandre Uninsky (c)
Imré Ungár (c)
Bolesław Kon
Abram Lufer
Lajos Kentner
Leonid Sagalov
1937 Yakov Zak
Rosa Tamarkina
Witold Małcużyński
Lance Dossor
Agi Jambor
Edith Axenfeld
1942 No competition due to occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany in WWII 1949 Bella Davidovich
Barbara Hesse-Bukowska
Waldemar Maciszewski
Georgy Muravlov
Władysław Kędra
Ryszard Bakst
1955 Adam Harasiewicz
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Fou Ts'ong
Bernard Ringeissen
Naum Shtarkman
Dmitry Paperno
1960 Maurizio Pollini
Irina Zaritskaya
Tania Achot-Harutunian
Li Min-Chan
Zinaida Ignatyeva
Valeri Kastelsky
1965 Martha Argerich
Arthur Moreira Lima
Marta Sosińska
Hiroko Nakamura
Edward Auer
Elzbieta Glabówna
1970 Garrick Ohlsson
Mitsuko Uchida
Piotr Paleczny
Eugene Indjic
Natalya Gavrilova
Janusz Olejniczak
1975 Krystian Zimerman
Dina Joffe
Tatyana Fedkina
Pavel Gililov
Dean Kramer
Diana Kacso
1980 Dang Thai Son
Tatyana Shebanova
Arutyun Papazyan
Not awarded Akiko Ebi
Ewa Poblocka (ex-a.)
Eric Berchot
Irina Pietrova (ex-a.) -->
1985 Stanislav Bunin
Marc Laforet
Krzysztof Jabłoński
Michie Koyama
Jean-Marc Luisada
Tatyana Pikayzen
1990 Not awarded Kevin Kenner
Yukio Yokoyama
Corrado Rollero
Margarita Shevchenko (ex-a.)
Anna Malikova
Takako Takahashi (ex-a.)
Caroline Sageman
1995 Not Awarded Philippe Giusiano
Gabriela Montero
Rem Urasin
Rika Miyatani
Magdalena Lisak
2000 Yundi Li
Ingrid Fliter
Alexander Kobrin
Sa Chen
Alberto Nosè
Mika Sato
2005 Rafał Blechacz
Not awarded Dong-Hyek Lim
Shohei Sekimoto
Not awarded Ka Ling Colleen Lee
2010 Yulianna Avdeeva
Lukas Geniušas
Ingolf Wunder (ex-a.)
Daniil Trifonov
Evgeni Bozhanov
François Dumont
not awarded See also
- List of classical music competitions
- XIII International Chopin Piano Competition
References
http://konkurs.chopin.pl/en/edition/xvi/verdicts/1978_wyniki_konkursu
Bibliography
- Jerzy Waldorff, Wielka gra: rzecz o konkursach chopinowskich ("Great playing: about Chopin Competitions"), Warsaw, Iskry, 1985, ISBN 83-207-0719-6.
- Janusz Ekiert, The endless search for Chopin: the history of the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, MUZA SA, 2000. ISBN 978-83-7495-812-7.
External links
Categories:- International Chopin Piano Competition
- Music competitions
- Culture in Warsaw
- Polish music
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.