“The Leeds International Piano Competition, which launched the careers of Andras Schiff and Murray Perahia, is to be overhauled in an attempt to bring it to a wider audience,” writes Mark Savage on Wednesday (10/19) at BBC News (U.K.). “The search will become global, with heats staged in Berlin, New York and Singapore, and streamed live online…. Winners will, for the first time, receive a recording contract and management by a leading arts agency. The triennial competition [for pianists under age 30] returns in 2018…. It was established in 1961 by renowned piano teacher Dame Fanny Waterman, who stepped down last year at the age of 95…. Her successors Paul Lewis and Adam Gatehouse, said … their principal concern … was ‘how you take care of the musicians after the competition, how you nurture those talents.’ Winners will receive a mentor … The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra will give the winner a concerto engagement…. The idea to stream the heats follows a successful trial by … the International Tchaikovsky Competition [which] broadcast all of its rounds last year, achieving ‘10 million hits’ in 190 countries, said Lewis.”
Posted October 24, 2016
