From the President

The 2004 Competition was a great success both artistically and financially, despite increased general expenses. The Prize-Winners’ tours immediately after the Competition – some 50 in number – were a great success with sold-out houses on a number of occasions. We are currently preparing Prize-Winners’ return tours which will take in all mainland States and Tasmania as well as the ACT and NT. From the many emails and letters received from competitors in the 2004 Competition, we are pleased to note that several have been Prize-Winners in other international competitions, as well as taking part in a number of festivals in Europe. Others are continuing their studies and giving recitals in many parts of Europe, England and the United States. Details of the return tour to Australia for John Chen in March, April and early May 2006 will be included in the May 2005 Newsletter. In the interim, John will have performances with a number of New Zealand orchestras including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand Youth Orchestra, Christchurch Symphony and Auckland Philharmonic. His repertoire for the two CD’s he will make for ABC Classics have been finalised – works by Debussy and Ravel and for Naxos, the complete piano solo works by the French composer Henri Dutilleux. Once again I must say a very, very special thank you to all those involved in the presentation of the 2004 Competition.

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What they are doing now

Alexander Lubiantsev has now moved to Lübeck in Germany and is studying at the Musikhochschule there with James Tocco. James Tocco also taught Yuki Takao for a number of years. In September, Alexander gave a recital in Glasgow and performed Liszt’s Sonata in B minor in a Master Class with Artur Pizarro. Duncan Gifford made three visits to Australia in 2004 for concerts. The third visit in November 2004 was at the invitation of Symphony Australia to perform different concertos with the Tasmanian, Queensland and West Australian Symphony Orchestras. The works performed on this visit were Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No 5 ‘Egyptian’. He will return to Australia in June 2005 and will give a recital for the Friends of SIPCA. In September 2005, John Chen will go to China for concerts organised by Xiang-Dong Kong. In 2005 he will also perform at the Ruhr Festival on August 6th, and give six recitals in Japan (October 7th-20th). He will also play with the New Zealand Youth Orchestra, the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra. In 2006 his return concert tour in Australia is already being scheduled with concerts in Western Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales, Queensland. He will also make a CD of works by Debussy and Ravel for ABC Classics and for Naxos the complete solo piano music of the French composer Henri Dutilleux. The details of this tour will be included in a future Newsletter. Some 16 concerts are so far confirmed. Spencer Myer has had a number of concert engagements since he was in Sydney. In October 2004, he did a recital tour of Louisiana with a soprano, performed Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Southeast Iowa Symphony in 3 cities. In January 2005, he performed Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Bangor Symphony and in February, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24 in c minor KV491 and Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand with the Oak Park/River Forest Symphony. In April, he will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony and in May, he will have a concert tour of South Africa performing 15 solo recitals and the five Beethoven Concertos with the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa.

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In Memoriam - Sheila Prior

One of the Competition’s founding volunteer supporters. the Friends’ treasurer and Competition Executive Members Sheila Prior sadly passed away on 12 December, 2004. It is a great honour for me to say a few words about Sheila Prior. I first met Sheila soon after I returned to Sydney to live in 1974, when in 1975 preparations began for the first Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia. There were many volunteers that provided essential assistance in the presentation of this the First International Competition in Australia. It was soon after this first highly successful Competition that the volunteers became the foundation members when the Friends of the Competition was formed. The numbers joining grew rapidly and Sheila was appointed Foundation Honorary Treasurer of this body. Sheila held this position with outstanding dedication, professionalism and enthusiasm for over 25 years. Sheila handled all of the membership registrations and ticketing for Friends events, as well as attending almost every concert, talk or lecture presented by the Friends over this 25-year period. In addition, Sheila was the person to whom many of the Friends and the numerous members of the general public wrote to or telephoned for information not only about the Friends, but also about the Competition itself. Sheila’s patience in attending to these inquiries made her very well-known to a large number of people. She also undertook the huge amount of work involved in the book-keeping, preparation of financial statements for each of the Friends Monthly Council Meetings and Annual Meetings. Sheila was also a Member of the Competition Executive for the past 15 years. Sheila’s encouragement of young and developing musicians, not only singers but also instrumentalists and conductors is well-known. She was delighted when so many of these young musicians blossomed to become fine professional musicians. One has only to look at the singers in Opera Australia over the past 20 years to note how many were given financial assistance to allow them to undertake further overseas study and also for outstanding teachers to be brought to Australia to work with young singers in Opera Australia. Sheila’s encouragement of young pianists was also outstanding and she was visibly excited when young pianists included works by Liszt or Chopin in their recital programs. Sheila regularly included young pianists in programs for the Australia Opera Auditions Committee Fund-Raising Events, enabling these people to gain valuable performance experience. She also added many Prize-Winners from the Sydney International Piano Competition in these concerts. Working with Sheila was always totally professional and she was absolutely fastidious with her book-keeping and frowned upon on any unnecessary expenses being considered. Sheila did not hesitate to give a balanced opinion on matters for which she had a particular interest. Sheila Prior with Dame Joan Sutherland She was always very generous with her public acknowledgement and praise of the people who worked with her on various Committees and she never sought the lime-light for herself. Throughout one’s life one meets many people from different backgrounds and having reached various levels of attainment. It is only rarely that one meets a great person who has dedicated their life to the assistance of other people – Sheila was one of these rare people and it was a real privilege to have met and worked with for so many years. She will be greatly missed by her son Peter, her wide circle of friends and in the cultural life of Sydney. - Warren Thomson OAM

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Piano Adventures on the Fifth Continent

Klaus Geitel, one of the observers for the 2004 Sydney International Piano Competition, upon his return to Germany wrote an article on his experiences in Australia for the Berlin Morgenpost. He has kindly allowed us to reprint it here. Naturally every traveller greatly appreciates the advantages of a 5 star hotel. Guidebooks, like Michelin or Varta have us strongly convinced. Likewise, the number of chef’s hats a restaurant receives is a convincing recommendation on the part of the reviewer. The Dutch Dr. Gustav Alink, inspired by the grandiose pianist Martha Agerich, after decades of effort, looked with a critical magnifying glass on numerous Piano Competitions in the whole world to praise (or belittle) by giving up to five stars to them. At least we know where we stand with them. Only one Competition in Germany, the Munich ARD Competition, received five stars. Outside of Germany, the well known Competitions in Moscow and Warsaw (Tchaikovsky and Chopin Competitions respectively) also received this accolade. Other five star competitions include seven in the USA, two in Japan, two in China, two in England and a final one to the highly organised Competition in Australia. The whole country listens note by note of its 3 week programme . It is radio broadcast from the beginning and joined by a television broadcast of the finale. The public comes in great numbers and take an eager part in the proceedings. Naturally they have their favourites (as it should be) but unfortunately they think it is a competition for speed. The real essence of the Competition is the competitors’ ability to create fireworks on the keys. On the other hand, the public stays wonderfully neutral. They are accepting of any surprises. They respected and accepted the jury’s decision against the 27 year old Russian Rem Urasin who was celebrated as the obvious winner, but he had to let triumph the 18 year old New Zealander, John Chen with his less sharp, but musically impressive artistry. Even the piano manufacturers respected the elimination contest for a place in the limelight, where the world-renown firms of Steinway, Yamaha and Kawai compete. They are reliable and good-hearted manufacturers of pianos but they are naturally not very good losers. Ultimately, competitions can be a costly game creating a future that you cannot reliably build on. The very experienced Gustav Alink has published another book recently. In this book the names of 15,000 pianists, who took part in competitions, are mentioned and one mostly never hears anything further about them, once their competition is over. Though many of them took part in different competitions and many were successful. Is it worth in the end to accumulate these prizes? This question does not affect the artistic aspiration for winning. The aim of candidates of competitions is basically for self-searching and to get to know one self and to add a little to ones self-esteem and by expressing it through Mozart, Beethoven, Debussy, Scriabin or Rachmaninov and all this in the limelight as well. Rachmaninov was the obvious favourite. He tickled irresistibly the fingers of the young people in Sydney. He who sows bravura, everybody knows, will harvest a hurricane of applause and this is the most beautiful music to the ears of piano players. In Vienna, Hamburg, Paris, Moscow, London, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo and Sydney, the candidates chosen by the tireless, industrious Warren Thomson, Artistic Director of the Competition, who has a good musical ear, aided by the many local jurors in each city. The chosen ones had their fares to Sydney and their accommodation for many weeks paid for by the Competition. This and the rather high prizemoney lure many, but on top of this, there are the concert tours, which help make every winner better known. But will this achieve a lifelong career in the limelight? One is by nature optimistic in Sydney. Besides, it is an unimaginable fortune on its own to be able to be present in this sunny so-called winter, in which one can take wonderful walks, just as in a German summer. The cockatoos in the sprawling Botanic Garden open their beaks and shout “bravo”. The flying foxes who are swinging head down from the barren tree branches, very close to each other spread their shaky wings and sail to the gloomy blue skies. The city is shining from head to toe and is ready, as in the past for this pioneer piano marathon, engineered by Claire Dan and generously financially supported by her. One has to see what was achieved: a beacon of art that electrified with enthusiasm, a whole continent.

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Competition CDs

A great number of CDs are now available featuring player from the 2004 Competition. A complete listof these can be found here. These discs are now available in ABC Shops, fine music retailers and online at http://www.buywell.com/

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Photos from 2004 Friends' Christmas Party

The Annual Christmas party of the Friends of the Sydney International Piano Competition was held as usual at the Goethe Institut, Woollahra on the evening of 9 December, 2004. Brilliant 14 year old pianist Joanne Kang gave a short recital performing works by Sancan, Mozart, Beethoven and Liszt. Over 100 guests were present including representatives of Kawai, Steinway, Yamaha and the Goethe Institut. Jane Buckingham, Kate Macgregor, Danny May, Judy Hunt and Eloise O'Donnell Nyree Vartoukian - Steinway, Cara Robinson - Yamaha, Joanne Kang - pianist, John Blanch - Kawai and Anna Bagnato - Yamaha Joanne Kang Ailsa Reichardt Tony Osman and Alf Reichardt

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