piano competition / previous editions / piano competition 2004
“1ST International Piano Competition Repubblica di San Marino”
San Marino – 23 / 30 September 2004Teatro Concordia – Borgo Maggiore
The first edition of the "International Piano Competition Repubblica di San Marino” took place from 23 to 30 September.
This project was carried out by the Associazione Musicale Allegro Vivo, a group made up of musicians who have sponsored artistic and cultural events in San Marino for years.
In the International scenario the Republic of San Marino deals with an uncommon reality which has developed more and more peculiar features. San Marino has always been characterised by one-day tourism and it has been rarely appreciated for its cultural events.
But these were exactly the right conditions for the growth of a project like that proposed by Allegro Vivo as the immediate support of private and public institutions proved that it was time to do something like this. In fact, the competition was supported by the Fondazione San Marino Cassa di Risparmio – S.U.M.S. and the Ente Cassa di Faetano, by the Secretaries of State for Education, Tourism and Foreign Affairs, besides the sponsorship of Their Excellencies the Captains Regent and UNESCO.
The months preceding the organisation of the event were animated by a great desire of directing existing resources towards the education of young musicians. In the meantime, the organisers aimed at creating an event with peculiar features and theses were the principles which guided their choices.
First of all, the considerable value of the prizes destined to the winners who had the opportunity of both being awarded substantial money prizes (for a total amount of 32,000 euros) and public performances offered by the music schools involved in the event.
Secondly, the structure of the competition which was divided into three sections in order to allow the appreciation of different expressions of the same instrumental art:
• “Young talents”– up to 12-year-old players
• “Piano performance” – up to 32-year-old solo players
• “Piano Duo”– up to 32-year-old pairs of players
In addition, the players had to chose one of the two works expressly commissioned to young San Marino composers Massimiliano Messieri and Marco Capicchioni in order to promote the knowledge of local artistic production.
Moreover, the judging commission was particularly prestigious as it was formed by some of the most representative pianists on the international scene who enthusiastically brought their undeniable artistic and teaching authority: M° Dario De Rosa – President of the jury (member of the memorable “Trio di Trieste”), M° Boris Bloch, M° Giuseppe Di Chiara, M° Valentin Gheorghiu, M° Andreas Groethuysen.
It was the passionate involvement of those who have sincerely trusted in this event that determined the unquestioned success of the first edition of this competition.
The participants were 101, a number exceeding the rosiest expectations and also their extremely heterogeneous provenience were both signs of great response. Some players came from Italy and the European area (France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, etc), but a lot of them brought to San Marino the richness of cultural experiences of far countries such as Armenia, Brazil, Canada, China, South Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan, Russia, United States, Taiwan, etc.
The rehearsals, which were fully open to the audience, took place at the Teatro Concordia in Borgo Maggiore, where the candidates played concert grand Steinway & Sons pianos.
From the preliminaries it came out that the artistic and music quality of the participants was very high so that M° Dario De Rosa himself, President of the commission, defined it as"absolutely astonishing”.In fact, the performances were rarely mere virtuosity and the audience could enjoy moments of very high quality interpretation every day.
The group of winners was international. Besides first, second and third prize, various special awards were granted. Among them great importance was given to the prize “Repubblica di San Marino”,awarded in each category to the best performance of the work by San Marino composers Capicchioni and Messieri.
In the category “Young talents” (up-to-12-year-old players) the young age of the participants was merely an “age accident” as their astonishing musical maturity lead the jury and the artistic direction to grant an “ex aequo” first prize, although this case was not provided for in the competition announcement, to Teo Gheorghiu (Canada) and Beatrice Rana (Italy).
The event ended Thursday 30 September 2004 with the prize-giving. During this ceremony, the audience at the Teatro Concordia could listen to the performance of first placed pianists of each category and the winners of “Repubblica di San marino” special awards. The concert was entirely shot and broadcast by RTV San Marino.
Goodbye and see you to the second edition.