XVII International Tchaikovsky Competition opens in Moscow

The P. I. Tchaikovsky Competition, a solid 65-year-old heavyweight in the music world and at the same time a showcase for the younger generation of musicians, opened yesterday according to the usual scenario: laying flowers at the composer’s monument at the Moscow Conservatory and a concert in the Great Hall of the Conservatory. The Mariinsky Orchestra performed with Valery Gergiev and former laureates of the competition: Liu Shikun (China), Denis Matsuev, Khibla Gerzmava, Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar (Mongolia), Alexander Ramm, Pavel Milyukov. About the unusual and unprecedented, which in fact is quite a lot at the current competition, tells Irina Mikhalkina.

It is not difficult to imagine the mode in which the preparations for the 17th Tchaikovsky Competition took place, the very holding of which was not considered appropriate and possible by everyone in the current situation. The fact that the competition will not go out of schedule and will take place in a standard format (six nominations divided between Moscow and St. Petersburg) was reported only in February, when the deadlines had already become extreme not only for organizing the competition, but also for preparing musicians. The announced acceptance of applications was eventually extended until mid-April (according to the results of calculations, there were 742 of them from 41 countries). But then came a complete moratorium on information. Neither the results of the qualifying round, nor the composition of the jury, nor the names of the participants were known even three days before the competition. The lists of participants appeared two days before the opening, on the same day the drawing of lots for pianists took place in the Great Hall of the Conservatory, and on the opening day of the competition, drawings of lots for the remaining five nominations took place. The names of the jury members, all the more, were a secret behind seven seals.

Of course, this is nonsense for international competition practice, but for the current Tchaikovsky it is a special regime, which is explained behind the scenes by the natural situation by today’s standards of visa denials and prohibitions for both contestants and jury members to participate in Tchaikovsky. It was impossible to calculate in advance who will eventually get to the beginning of the competitive rounds to the Moscow and St. Petersburg halls. By the way, situations of such intensity for people of art did not develop even during the Cold War, when in 1958 Van Cliburn came to Moscow for the first Tchaikovsky competition, won and became its main legend.

Meanwhile, the lists of participants reflect not only the current state of the competition, but also its prospects. In some nominations, almost two-thirds of the lists are Russian performers (cello, vocals, woodwinds), in the Brass nomination, Chinese musicians approach the record number of Russian performers (out of 48 participants, 22 are from Russia and 17 are from China). In general, musicians from 23 countries will take part in the competition – Russia, Italy, USA, Serbia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Japan, China, France, Great Britain, Georgia, Moldova, Germany, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Slovenia , Venezuela, Canada, Costa Rica, Australia.

In the nomination “Piano”, which traditionally remains the central one in the Tchaikovsky Competition, a picture of competition already familiar from previous competitions is outlined. Seven current contestants participated in last year’s Rachmaninov Competition: Alexander Klyuchko (winner), laureates Xianyi Miao from China, Konstantin Khachikyan and Ilya Papoyan, participants Anton Yashkin, Valentin Malinin, Stanislav Korchagin. For the second time, George Harliono from Great Britain, winner of the Denis Matsuev Grand Piano Competition in Moscow, came to Tchaikovsky. French pianists, students of Rena Shereshevskaya, will continue their participation in the competition: her pupils in the past became a sensation for the public (Luca Debargue, Alexander Kantorov), let’s see how the audience will now accept Marcel Tadokoro (Japan / France). Number one among the pianists according to the results of the draw was the pianist from the USA Chu Yi Ming, who will open the auditions of the first round in the Great Hall of the Conservatory with Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C Minor.

By the way, new grand pianos were not purchased due to the sanctions for the competition. In the line of the previous, XVI competition, five grand pianos were presented – Steinway & Sons, Yamaha, Kawai, Fazioli, Yangtze River. Probably, this set will be kept for the contestants. The list of orchestras that will perform with the contestants in the third round includes the State Orchestra named after M. E. F. Svetlanova, Russian National Orchestra, Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, Honored Collective of Russia Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.

Meanwhile, the list of those who will evaluate the participants in the current Tchaikovsky Competition remained secret yesterday afternoon. Due to extreme logistics, the final lists only appeared in the evening. The jury of pianists included, for example, Denis Matsuev, Liu Shikun (China), Ta Quang Dong (Vietnam), Valery Pyasetsky, Vladimir Ovchinnikov; violinists – Vadim Repin, Pavel Milyukov, Lorenz Nasturica-Gershovichi (Romania), Alexei Shalashov; vocalists – Olga Borodina, Khibla Gerzmava, Dmitry Korchak. However, in any case, by the beginning of today’s auditions, all these secrets would have become irrelevant – live broadcasts of the competition begin. Everyone will see and hear everything. For this, everything was started.