17 February saw the first major press-conference relating to the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition that will run in Moscow and St Petersburg from 15 June to 3 July featuring four categories – piano, violin, cello and solo vocals.
Maestro Valery Gergiev intends this competition to be a dedication to Pyotr Tchaikovsky to commemorate one hundred and seventy-five years since the composer’s birth.
The anniversary XV Tchaikovsky Competition will prove innovative in many ways – there will be new judging rules as well as the procedure of free votes. The competition will have five selection rounds – a “virtual” selection of applicants by members of the jury on the basis of competitors’ recordings, preliminary auditions and three stages of the competition itself, in which Round 2 for instrumentalists includes solo performance and performance with a chamber orchestra, while the final will see contestants perform two concerts accompanied by symphony orchestra.
This year the age categories of the contestants have been expanded – from sixteen to thirty-two specialising in piano, violin and cello and from nineteen to thirty-two for solo vocalists.
For the first time in the competition’s history there will be children’s competitive events in two fields – for pupils of music schools just like the “adults’” competition and a competition of works and drawings about the music of Pyotr Tchaikovsky for pupils from State schools. The competition will have several stages: at schools, districts of the Russian Federation and a final selection in Federal Regions. The prize-winners of the children’s competition will attend the third round of the International Tchaikovsky Competition and have the opportunity to take part in master-classes taught by renowned jury members.
As well as musicians, the jury of the fifteenth competition includes directors of major international music festivals and concert venues such as Eva Wagner (Director of the Bayreuth Music Festival in Germany), Martin Engstroem (Director of the Verbier International Festival, Switzerland), Cristina Muti (Director of the Ravenna Music Festival), Michael Haefliger (Director of the Lucerne Festival, Switzerland), Tobias Richter (General Director of the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Switzerland) and Clive Gillinson (Artistic Director of Carnegie Hall, USA). Valery Gergiev has commented that the presence of directors of international music festivals will provide young musicians the chance to make themselves seen and appear at the finest Russian and international concert venues, a great advantage for this year’s competitors.
For more details about the competition please go to: www.competition-tchaikovsky.com
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