The Eighth Utah Symphony Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition

They offer a Yank pass and asks me you know how what can I do point. I said as long as you say my husband and my plan my child and I can make this into my piano. My rock and my piano then it's simple. IT MUST BE ON MY PIANO AND MY LIFE MY PIANO AND my well-being. You know my piano and my everything. My illness or anything. The music must come. From. The Symphony Hall in Salt Lake City Utah. Welcome to the 1986 Utah symphony. Gino Bahah our International Piano Competition. Hello I'm Martin books fan and I'm delighted to serve as your host for this extraordinary

piano competition out of 150 applicants. Fifty nine were accepted and they represent 21 different countries. This is the 8th Utah symphony. Gino BAAF our piano competition and we're here in beautiful symphony hall in Salt Lake City for the final round of performances. This competition is named in memory of the latest in a box power for a number of reasons. She was one of the most sought after and respected pianists of her generation. She played in Utah many times and she contributed to the musical life of Utah. She was made an honorary citizen of the state in addition to her professional accomplishments. Gina Bahour loved the young aspiring musicians of the world and she wanted them to excel that way. Gina but Howard was born and raised in Athens Greece beginning her piano studies with

Voldemar Freeman at the age of five. She then studied in Paris with Alfred Korto and later with Rachmaninoff you know. It was in London that she met her future husband Alec Sherman. At the time. He was the conductor of the New London orchestra and when he heard her play he engaged her to perform. In 1951 they were married and he gave up much of his career to become his wife's manager. She has to have hope. Right there. If I was pursuing my own career away from her she would have to have a secretary. Who knows what else to look after. The secretary of correspondence the travel arrangements even some birds are carrying the bags by the way. I feel the best thing to do was to toss a coin if it came down. Hence I wouldn't

give up my career if it came down. Tails were going to be false. They came down on me heads because I made sure of it. I use the double headed. I like has been a very great musician and he's a very great musician and he's my best critic. Because he criticizes. With love and devotion you know I think he wants me to play better. Set than me but I have to play. I played for him before. And when he starts to pick the sides and to say sometimes read and then I'll get mad and they said no I'd never do it. Like why don't we never do it like that and then leave the room down and sag the grade. I know that sounds judgmental but I'm sure check. The competition is honored to have Alec Sherman as one of its permanent judges Madame Bahar Our kept a rigorous schedule playing over hundred ten concerts a

year but she always regretted that she did not have more time to devote to teaching. She said if I can help the young students in any way I would do it with the greatest pleasure in the world. Like he said another sign that Beethoven has not written for the piano. Beethoven had done with an orchestra here. He has different sound. You know that we must try to do that on the piano. I know that this wooden box is not for that we must make thing. Because of Gino but ours love of the youth. And her musical contributions to the state of Utah. Paul poli founder and director of the competition felt it only fitting to dedicate this International Piano Competition in her name after her death in 1976. This AIFF Utah symphony Gina Bahour International Piano Competition actually began as the inspiration of Paul Paul

II himself a dedicated teacher and pianist. The gracious support and involvement of the Utah Symphony has been vital to the success of the competition. With Paul's enthusiasm and expertise and the continuous work of many people especially the executive committee of the competition including Barbara Tanner Jay Beck and Rebecca Felton the competition has grown steadily in size and prestige. It is one of only four United States piano competitions to be unofficial member of the International Federation of music competitions in Geneva Switzerland. Among the many special guests here this evening are Princess Sirene of grigs a former student and dear personal friend of Gina Fowler. Maestro. Reesa brother. Honorary Chairman of the competition. Norman H. BANGALTER. Governor of the state of Utah. And the jury members for the competition whom we'll meet later this evening.

This marks the end of a very strenuous 10 days of competition filled with preliminary rounds Quarter-Finals and semifinal rounds. We're now down to six finalists and each of them will play a concerto with the Utah Symphony Orchestra conducted by its music director Joseph Silverstein. Let's now join the final round of competition and meet the six finalists. Our. First finalists this evening is Benedetta Lupo from Italy playing the second piano concerto by Rachmaninoff. It's very difficult to concentrate. And we are

we have to. Tinker. All the. Music. That we are playing sometimes and we have other tasks and it's and also and for. The most beautiful thing is. When me playing the competition as an art concept. So. Sometimes it's also because we have so much passion and we have to practice the song. And we have to think about these things when we practice. So.

You. Know. I would really like it very much to come back and I began doing. This. But. Mean. It's. Time. And. I will do. I've been doing it now.

I have nothing much back. Our next performer this evening is Frederick wildy from the United States playing the piano concerto number one by Franz Liszt. Do. You.

I'm not sure why I started playing the piano. It was. There was a piano in our house and it and I enjoyed calling up on the bench and just making the sounds. I think there was. Something inside of me. To.

Do. I just want to do the best I can. I really like playing the piano a lot. I like. Moving people when I play for them. And my incentive is really to just move them as best I can. The way I can tell if I'm doing well is if I can feel the audience with me. If I can feel them responding even though it's not an oral thing but I can feel their energy sort of tuning into my energy. It sounds sort of hocus pocus but it's very true especially if the music comes down to a very quiet moment and you can hear that people are quiet with you. Do.

You. Do. You. Do.

To. Winnings. Now.

And as I said I'm thrilled to be. Thrilled. And winning would be wonderful. But I've already I-party. For. Myself. Our third performer this evening is Thomas Dewey's from West Germany. He is playing the Brahms Piano Concerto Number One. The.

Reason to do this profession is it's a mix of all. I mean you have to be way egoistic about it yet you have to find your way through all these competitions and meninges and what comes up. But it's always the the feeling that you want to express yourself that you want to play for an audience that you want to to give something like a message to the people that are sitting there and listening to you. Sometimes when you perform you'll become novice and you think what's coming next.

And once you are in it you don't really know what you're thinking. It's trying to express things it comes automatically. You're not you're not thinking of how nice the weather is. What your mother is wearing this day or whatever. Of course you have a visible imagination of what it looks like or what it should sound like. And of course that is different. And the. Piece. In.

It. For myself it's I can't say when I when I feel comfortable with it then I know how. It. Goes. And of course the reaction. Of. The audience. Because they know exactly

when you have to bed. They feed it and you feel at home. They said that they are quiet on. This. Day. It's a little intensity and tension or whether they stop reading the paper that is a bad sign. Before we continue with the performances of the finalists Let's meet the members of the jury the international and the professional level of this event is evidenced by these six members. They represent 12 different countries. Many of them teach music and have performing careers. Ten of them are past winners of piano competitions and many are composers conductors and recording artists. Chairman of the jury for the third year is Joanne Baker distinguished professor of piano at the Conservatory of Music University of Missouri Kansas City. Madame Geaux Guang Renn is professor and vice chairman of the piano department at the central

Conservatory of Music in Beijing China. Winner of several international piano competitions is Adam Felber off skie professor of piano at the Grenoble Conservatory of Music one of Israel's finest pianists is Arya Vardi. He is also a professor of piano at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. Alexander piskun Hoff a native of Odessa U.S.S.R. is a well-known concert pianist as well as a talented composer for both stage and film. A professor of piano at the Tokyo School of the arts. Yes Suko Nakayama is also vice president of the piano teachers National Association of Japan and cushiony is a winner of numerous piano competitions and she is currently associate professor of piano at Hart College of Music at the University of Hartford. Rex Hopcroft from Sydney Australia is former artistic director of the Sydney

International Piano Competition and director of the Sydney Conservatory of Music for 10 years. Lesley Howard a native of Australia and a current resident of London is a gifted performer composer and musicologist as well as a prolific recording artist Bradford Gawaine is a recent major competition winner as well as a published composer and he is now professor of music at the University of Maryland. Dean elder distinguished pianist author journalist teacher and chief piano critic for Clevinger and Ovation magazine's Seymour Bernstein has won many awards for his performances. He is also a composer teacher and author. Ana Maria Trenck Nazi a native of Argentina is a world class pianist and director of the Gell-Mann Peeno School of Music in New York a well-known concert artist in his native country. Peter Avery is assistant general manager of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Miguel Proenza from Brazil is a consultant on cultural matters for the Ministry of Culture and is director of both the Villa-Lobos School of Music and the distinguished concert hall Sala Mireles. And of course Alec Schurman musician and conductor as well as husband and manager to the late Jeano boss power. The voting procedure is unique. Our particular rules set up that we vote for a number of yeses a specified number and a specified number of maybes. And those maybes are used to break the ties. We do not do any deliberation and I can see we would have quite a difficult time if we had fifty two contestants 16 judges all trying to discuss which one was doing this better and that better looking. The members of the jury. There is an absolutely evident feeling of family and camaraderie that seems to develop the model.

Yes and that's one of the important things and the fun things about being on this jury the feeling of comradeship and friendship is extremely important and I think one of the reasons we all end up good friends and I mean really good friends is that we have not discussed the competitors now that we're in the final stage winners one two and three places will be selected. What will you and your colleagues on the jury be looking for. There are many things that we look for. I think the big one is communication. There has to be something extremely magic all of all of our competitors are technically prepared to play what they're playing and if they're playing only for themselves it isn't communicating anything and after all music is a communication. Everything tells a story. Undoubtedly the composer had a plan and wanted to convey a message of happiness or sadness or grief or whatever it is and that that has to come across so that the meaning of the composer is conveyed to the listener. And of course there are many people who play the same

pieces and they each play a different a different way just like we all look different and sound different. The piano sound different too and to an experienced ear you're listening for the very small things like how one note relates to the next note or how one phrase relates to the next phrase and and what the big plan is and how involved they are in their music. Joanne thank you very much. And now let's go back to the final round of the competition. This is Jose Ramos Santana from Puerto Rico. He is playing the second piano concerto of Rachmaninoff. In.

The. I guess I will head on 12 years ago. Then I decided that I wanted to be a concert pianist. Because I gave him my first recital at the age of 12 and I said to myself well I guess this is what I will be doing the rest of my life. Then. When.

The. The. The. Imagination is so great inside I feel that I want to project that. That doesn't mean that I'm always successful. But at least I try. My best. To try to communicate that beauty that I feel in the music to everybody else so they share with me. In.

The. In. New. England. You

go into it and you. Know. The.

Thing that. I'm off to just separate myself from the whole world. And that's really what. It's for. It's got to come to. You. Because you really can't compete with anybody. You only came. To. Fifth to perform this evening as Alex Chen from Hong Kong and the United States he is playing the second piano concerto of South Salz. In.

Actually I never used to realize the difference between just playing the piano. No matter how well I think I'm playing. And working. At the piano. Making the craft something that is. So much mine that I could just concentrate on the music. When one hears a performance and just does not even hear the technique at all it's just nothing but music. That's when the technique is to a to a degree that it is absolutely selfless. For.

It. I enjoy the music. I enjoy playing the piano. It's not contradictory it's just when you add the

piano you make music. If I was singing I would try to make music I wouldn't try to sing well if I were playing the violin. I don't want to play the violin. Well I mean I could just play scales and flip people all the way. Down. In. In.

It. In. I thought of the. Whole. Man. And. I have. A lot of music. I found one that is very very likable almost like a desert because in the semi-final round I gave to the state. The 6th to perform this evening is from Belgium and the

United States she is playing Beethoven's Fourth concerto. It's something that is in me in a way I haven't over nerves before play. And it's almost like agony every time I have to go on stage so I don't know exactly why I do it right. So. I didn't go for a competition for a long time so I forgot the

pressure of you know being one of the better. When you go to recite don't you know that you go there and you play and you know and people can just came to see you in here. You basically have a whole pack of pleasure or fun or whatever they call it when you have for a competition it's defined that thing that you have to actually prove for a lot of psychological turns you know that that may just get to you when you don't need it. In. Most of the time you know everything goes well and doesn't have to deal with.

Small things you're done on the greatest And first you know shaking hands Oh God won't stop you know won't stop it fast. You know Fingo so on sleep at the wrong place and saying that. So but sometimes even ways that you can cope. You know it just you never know from one time to another how it's going to be. For.

Me in. The competition not a. Lot of I. Think that. This is a chance. Even if we don't think about when the. Crisis it's just that you are there. And. You. Can at. The moment go. The final round of competition is now complete and the judges are convening to arrive at their decision. It won't be an

easy one. Tonight's Grand Prize Winner will receive a $3000 cash award. A Steinway Model L. grand piano the gold medallion at a performance at New York's Lincoln Center along with concerts and recitals in France Brazil and New Zealand and other countries and cities. The judges have had a very heavy responsibility in listening to 75 hours of gateaux performance during the competition. Let's now join the jury members as they conclude their final judging on this building. We vote for first place for a one hour pass around first place and then we'll go out and catch them just as quickly. Easy to count. They will come in and announce that to you and you cross that first and then we go on the other five for the second base and we cross that first. And that's the way we do it on down until we vote for the fifth and sixth on the same piece of

paper. But there will be a separate piece of paper for each one. Work. What do you think of all this. Do you still read the whole purpose of this kind of system to keep your friends in the box. And to use them as the characters. There is no danger of Mr.. Come to the presentation.

Prizes to those finalists who perform for you last evening and this evening and in the tradition of such presentations we will start in reverse order we will go six five four three two one to present the sixth prize a cash award of $1000. Mr. J.L. who of course has been indefatigable in his work for the competition and who just happens to be the president of the Utah music teachers association. Jay. Gives me great pleasure to ward the 6th prize on behalf of the Utah Music Teachers Association to Evelyn brand car. Prize will be awarded to the recipient by Mr.

Steven Bennett. Gives me great pleasure to order the first prize to fifteen hundred dollars to Frederick. Well the. Fourth prize a cash award of two thousand dollars to be awarded by Mr. Joseph C. Bennett. Forest prize goes to Jose Ramos Sandtown of USA.

The third prize is a Bula Brian hold for commemorative bronze medal. And a cash award. It will be presented by Mrs. Bula Reinhold Ford. It gives me great honor today to present the third prize to $3000 to Bandito loopholed from.

Second prize. The Loosli Abravanel Memorial Prize and it is to be presented to the winner by Mrs

Barbara Tanner for the Abrar NL endowment fund. Kind of a tense moment. The second prize is for $5000. Plass every turn engagement with the Utah symphony and other concerts and the silver medal. And it is my play here to present it to Thomas du. And if you've been paying attention.

You know who the first prize winner is. But I would like to call upon you. I would like to call upon. Her royal highness Prince US-Iran of Greece. I have the honor to present the grand prize and the gold medal for the 1986 you doesn't win the international competition to Alec shin from the U.S.. And that of course is just the beginning of the prize package. I feel like a

television game show host. There is also a Steinway Model l grand piano which is a personal gift from its donor or present it to the winner of this competition. May I introduce to you Mr. Gerrold skip day. As all of you know a piano has 88 keys this is key number 88 worth twenty thousand two hundred dollars and I present his key to Mr. Chen so that he may retrieve the other 87. Alex first of all congratulations on an absolute triumph. It was. An

extraordinary performance and delighted that we're able to talk even briefly right after winning. As a matter of fact what thoughts went through your head as you were sitting there waiting for the announcement of the grand prize. What are we went 6 5 4 3. So I just don't announce my name. Until the very end. But now really the whole competition has been such a good experience. That I learned a lot during that meeting all of these people having the opportunity. To. Get all that rubbish in. The same time. And to play them over and over and it it's just a great exercise of stamina the. Character. And I'm just glad I was able to get that price. Yes and more opportunities to play all those qualities that you just mentioned stamina character. They really are taxed almost to their limit in this kind of pressure. Yes. It depends on what number you

draw and sometimes you're lucky to get a good number in a good place when sometimes you get to play two days in a row and then the next morning you announce very late oh you win and then the next morning you rehearse. That's why it's so good to have such good host family. Well two weeks. Time is their time. And you can really relax. I've been really blessed with. My family. And they have been just really there every time I needed something. They've got it made of them resting on it. So I just enjoyed the stay. Now along with the various other prizes that go along with your winning is a very extensive concert career over the next 12 18 months. Yes. Yes. Are you ready for that. I hope so and I hope I'm just going to take one at a time and. Put together some good and good program. And just go one at a time. Again Alex my congratulations to you man and all good things from

now on. Thank you. Bravo. Now the winner of the Utah symphony Gina Bahau International Piano Competition Alex Chen performing the piano concerto number two in G minor by sound songs. To.

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