The 8th triennial Hamamatsu International Piano Competition is underway, and features a lone Canadian, University of Montreal doctoral candidate Simon Larivière, among its 80-some competitors. All rounds are streamed live on the web and then stored for video on demand.
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Larivière has already made the rounds of several Canadian competitions, and is evidently hoping to do well in a contest that has a history of attracting great young talents.
Olga Kern took third prize in Hamamatsu in 2000, a year before winning the Van Cliburn competition. David Fray earned an honourable mention a year ahead of his second-place finish at the Montreal International Piano Competition in 2004. And Alessio Bax, who won the Leeds competition in 2000, won the Hamamatsu contest in 1997.
The first round consists of a 20 minute recital of pieces from the classical canon, including a work by J.S. Bach. The second round requires no more than 40 minutes of solo performance, while the third round requires a 70-minute programme that includes a piece of chamber music. The finalists get to perform with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.
The prizes for this year’s competition are being awarded on Nov. 24. The cash portion of the first prize amounts to approximately $35,000. As far as I can see there is no record deal or other career-development aids included with any of the prizes.
Hamamatsu founded the competition in 1991 to raise its international profile as the home city of both of Japan’s major piano manufacturers, Yamaha and Kawai.
For all the details, click here.
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
