Prize-winners of the Tchaikovsky Competition. Pages from history

The vocalists’ programme of the Tchaikovsky Competition is at its height at the Mariinsky Theatre. The first and second rounds will take place on 28 June in the Musorgsky Hall while the finale will be held on 30 June at the Concert Hall, where on 3 July there will be a gala concert of the prize-winners from every category.

In the foyer of the Mariinsky-II there is an exhibition prepared by the Glinka Museum. The walls are adorned with portraits of internationally acclaimed musicians and prize-winners of the competition when they were, in accordance with competition rules, under the age of thirty. Vladimir Ashkenazi who looks like himself and looks very different (1^st prize for piano in 1962), the violin rivals Gidon Kremer and Vladimir Spivakov (1^st and 2^nd prizes in 1970), Elena Obraztsova and Maria Guleghina, the sixteen-year-old Grigory Sokolov, the young and delighted 1^st prize-recipients Vladimir Krainev and Mikhail Pletnev... Many of the musicians – such as the violinists Victor Pikaizen and Viktor Tretyakov, the pianists Van Cliburn and John Lill – in time took places on the jury. Their portraits as competitors and judges have been selected for the exhibition.

On the website of the Mariinsky Theatre users can see a version of the exhibition where the photographs from the Glinka Museum are joined by photos from the Mariinsky Theatre Archive. Many of the company’s soloists have passed through the “crucible” of the competition, among them Vladimir Atlantov and Nikolai Okhotnikov who won the 1^st and 2^nd prizes in 1966 – the first competition to feature vocalists. Gegam Grigorian and Vladimir Chernov received the 2^nd and 3^rd prizes in 1982, Alexander Morozov was the winner in 1986, Marina Shaguch was the “silver finalist” in 1990, Yevgeny Nikitin in 1998, and Zlata Bulycheva received 4^th prize in 1998. The “shortlist” focusses on photos of musicians from St Petersburg as well as those who may be heard frequently at the various Mariinsky venues. Wouldn’t you like to remember what Barry Douglas, Boris Berezovsky, Denis Matsuev and Albina Shagimuratova were like as their stars of glory began to shine?