Extraordinary musical adventures

Along with the finalists, Ensemble Intercontemporain performed at the Paris Theatre des Bouffes du Nord. The Final also featured the premiere of a new work for three pianists and ensembly by Bastien David.

In an interview with the Hong-Kong based online magazine Interlude before the Orleans competition, Andreeva says:  “I was born in Ukraine but spent my childhood and youth in southern Russia, where I started my musical education at four. My parents are not musicians, but a good German piano was bought at the first opportunity, long before I could use it. When I turned fifteen, I dreamt, as many teenagers do, of leaving my parents’ house. So, I went to Moscow to study at the Central Music School and later at the Moscow Conservatory, where I stayed with my husband; I decided to leave Russia shortly before the annexation of Crimea. The Russian state did not promise anything good for the future, but we could not imagine what would come in 2022… … Currently, I’m immersed in modern and contemporary repertoire because I was fortunate to be selected as one of the 12 pianists for the final phase of the Orleans Piano Competition. I’m preparing a program for three rounds featuring music written from 1901 to 2024. Each round is structured as a unique concept and supported with a specially written note of intent. It’s challenging but exceptionally inspiring! This kind of repertoire – unknown and rarely played – is what I enjoy working on the most. It gives the interpreter freedom from canons and expectations, enabling the discovery of new meanings and the creation of new contexts.”

The Orléans international Piano Competition is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Christopher Guzman, its 2012 winner, writes: “I would define the competition in these three words: Provocative, Vanguard, and Fraternity. It is PROVOCATIVE as new music often elicits strong reactions from audiences, VANGUARD as the competition showcases new styles and techniques unlike any other competition, and one can feel a sense of FRATERNITY with the elite group of pianists, composers, and other musicians who are part of the competition experience. The competition is unique and important as an avenue for the unconventional pianist whose diverse interests and talents extend beyond the western canon that is central to nearly every other piano competition. In the next 30 years, I hope the competition will aide other pianists in their early careers with the prizes I was afforded: performances across many continents, a CD recording, and many years of trips to Orléans where l have made friends and memories to last a lifetime."

Looking back at the competition´s history, Artistic Director Isabella Vasilotta writes: “In 1994, 30 years ago, Françoise Thinat realised her dream of offering Orléans a major international piano event devoted to new music and the early 20th century repertoire.

The gamble paid off: from the very first edition, the Competition was a real unifying event with artists from all over the world, young talents who today are among the great professionals of classical and contemporary music. We need only mention that in the prize list of this first edition we find Hideki Nagano, today the official pianist of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, a legendary group created by Pierre Boulez in 1976 and which accompanied our three finalists in October 2024 in Vortex Temporum by Gérard Grisey.

If the Competition has evolved while keeping at heart the fundamental principles of the first edition, 30 years later it remains “dreamy” and still offers new challenges.” 

Prizes:
1st prize: Svetlana Andreeva, Berlin
2nd prize: Leo Gevisser (22), New York City
3rd prize: Misora Ozaki (28), Munich

Jury:
Wilhem Latchoumia (Chair), Winston Choi, Maroussia Gentet, Chen Jiang, Anne Montaron, Imri Talgam

Artists:
Ensemble intercontemporain / Léo Margue (Conductor)

©️ WFIMC 2024 / FR