In Wednesday’s (1/8) New York Times, Michael Cooper writes that Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz has “been selected to receive one of the great windfalls of the music world: the $300,000 Gilmore Artist Award, which is given every four years to an unsuspecting pianist deemed worthy of a great career by a panel of anonymous judges who conduct their worldwide talent search in secret…. The long-confidential selection process aims to judge pianists over a sustained period of time…. With the award, Mr. Blechacz, 28, will join an elite and varied group of recipients, who include Kirill Gerstein, Ingrid Fliter, Piotr Anderszewski and Leif Ove Andsnes. He will receive $50,000 in cash, and $250,000 will be made available to help him foster his career. (Past recipients have used that money to buy better pianos, commission new music, subsidize recordings and take sabbaticals to learn new repertoire.) … Mr. Blechacz (pronounced BLEH-hatch) rose to fame in 2005 when, at 20, he became the first Polish pianist in three decades to win the International Chopin Piano Competition. Since then, he has made several well-received recordings … and studied the philosophy of music and aesthetics…. He is writing a book about musical interpretation.”
Posted January 8, 2014
