06 January 2012
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Enter our New 2012 Amateur Piano Competition
We know that you've been waiting for it... If you're an amateur pianist over the age of 30, you can make it to the stage! ...
We are delighted to announce that Pianist magazine, Yamaha and Chetham’s International Summer School & Festival for Pianists have joined forces to create a competition for amateur adult pianists with a tempting range of recording and performances opportunities on offer.
The winning prize includes a performance with the Manchester Camerata, a recording to be featured on Pianist magazine’s front cover CD plus an in-depth article inside, a free place on the 2013 Chetham’s International Summer School – and if that’s not enough, a recital in Yamaha’s recital hall in central London.
Pianist magazine editor Erica Worth, comments, ‘We want to be able to give amateur pianists of all levels, and who play all types of repertoire, the chance to work towards something really challenging, with the ultimate opportunity of getting up there and playing on stage on a concert grand, in front of a live audience. And it’s not actually so much about winning the top prize – it’s about the whole process from when the person decides to enter, chooses what repertoire to learn, tries to perfect it, makes the recording, and then finally gets that entry in to the post! No matter how far any entrant gets in this Competition, it will be worth it, because they will have improved, they will have worked towards a dream, and they will surely look forward to the next competition!’
‘We wanted to produce a professional, well organised and resourced showcase opportunity for the thousands of talented and passionate amateur pianists who love the piano, and labour at home for hours on end, who yearn for an opportunity to play in a professional public setting with professional musicians’, so says Leanne Barrell from Yamaha.
Murray McLachlan, who is Head of Keyboard at Chetham’s School of Music, comments further: ‘Whilst practicing and having lessons are relatively easy to arrange, it is much harder to findopportunities to perform and aim for goals away from grade exams and diplomas. This is where this new competition comes into its own. The prizes on offer include valuable tuition from international performers and teachers, as well as golden opportunities for performance in front of large audiences at the Royal Northern College of Music concert hall and during the Chetham’s Summer School itself.’
The Competition is open to pianists over 30 years of age, for whom playing the piano is a hobby and not a profession, and features both Classical and Modern categories. All that the applicants need to do initially is submit an unedited CD of at least two contrasting works.
Entries close on 1 May 2012, from which a number of short listed semi finalists will be invited to perform before a jury in August 2012 at Chetham’s International Summer School in Manchester. The organisers also confirm that every entry will receive written comments from jury members on their performance.
A maximum of eight pianists will then be chosen to proceed to the finals, which will be held at the Royal Northern College of Music on the evening of 22 August. Finalists will perform before an audience and a distinguished jury which comprises Noriko Ogawa, Michael Roll, Jason Rebello, Nikki Iles, Murray McLachlan and Pianist magazine editor Erica Worth.
Here are the full details on how to enter.
Good luck and GET PRACTISING!
The winning prize includes a performance with the Manchester Camerata, a recording to be featured on Pianist magazine’s front cover CD plus an in-depth article inside, a free place on the 2013 Chetham’s International Summer School – and if that’s not enough, a recital in Yamaha’s recital hall in central London.
Pianist magazine editor Erica Worth, comments, ‘We want to be able to give amateur pianists of all levels, and who play all types of repertoire, the chance to work towards something really challenging, with the ultimate opportunity of getting up there and playing on stage on a concert grand, in front of a live audience. And it’s not actually so much about winning the top prize – it’s about the whole process from when the person decides to enter, chooses what repertoire to learn, tries to perfect it, makes the recording, and then finally gets that entry in to the post! No matter how far any entrant gets in this Competition, it will be worth it, because they will have improved, they will have worked towards a dream, and they will surely look forward to the next competition!’
‘We wanted to produce a professional, well organised and resourced showcase opportunity for the thousands of talented and passionate amateur pianists who love the piano, and labour at home for hours on end, who yearn for an opportunity to play in a professional public setting with professional musicians’, so says Leanne Barrell from Yamaha.
Murray McLachlan, who is Head of Keyboard at Chetham’s School of Music, comments further: ‘Whilst practicing and having lessons are relatively easy to arrange, it is much harder to findopportunities to perform and aim for goals away from grade exams and diplomas. This is where this new competition comes into its own. The prizes on offer include valuable tuition from international performers and teachers, as well as golden opportunities for performance in front of large audiences at the Royal Northern College of Music concert hall and during the Chetham’s Summer School itself.’
The Competition is open to pianists over 30 years of age, for whom playing the piano is a hobby and not a profession, and features both Classical and Modern categories. All that the applicants need to do initially is submit an unedited CD of at least two contrasting works.
Entries close on 1 May 2012, from which a number of short listed semi finalists will be invited to perform before a jury in August 2012 at Chetham’s International Summer School in Manchester. The organisers also confirm that every entry will receive written comments from jury members on their performance.
A maximum of eight pianists will then be chosen to proceed to the finals, which will be held at the Royal Northern College of Music on the evening of 22 August. Finalists will perform before an audience and a distinguished jury which comprises Noriko Ogawa, Michael Roll, Jason Rebello, Nikki Iles, Murray McLachlan and Pianist magazine editor Erica Worth.
Here are the full details on how to enter.
Good luck and GET PRACTISING!
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