The National Philharmonic of Ukraine is going to see a competition of young and original musicians from various countries on April 12 to 26. In an interview with The Day, Yurii ZILBERMAN, Pro-Rector for Methodology of the Kyiv Reinhold Gliere Institute of Music, the inspirer and director general of the International Competition of Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz, answers “ticklish” questions about the funding, sponsorship, and, hence, stability of the prestigious contest, as well as about how they manage to meet such a high artistic standard.
How did the last year’s change of dates affect the competition?
“Any change of dates harbors the danger that young pianists may lose interest. Not all of those who were getting ready for the competition in 2009 will be coming this year. Somebody’s age will not allow them to compete in the desired age group and somebody else has planned to take part in a different contest, which means they have taken up a new program, and there also are all kinds of events connected with studies, family, etc. Naturally, the jury members who had been invited to the Horowitz contest in 2009 were also at the receiving end.
“Each of them had found a ‘slot’ in their tight schedules in good time to be able to come to Kyiv for two weeks. (As a rule, we begin to negotiate with the future jurors two years before the competition.) So the change of date had an adverse effect in this respect, too. Besides, the status of a serious contest (and the Horowitz Competition is considered serious in the musical world) does not presuppose this kind of sudden (two months before the opening) cancellation.
In reply to the announcement that the competition has been put off, the president of the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth (EMY) used – and deservedly so – the word ‘shame’ in a personal letter to me.
There were also problems with the World Federation of International Musical Competitions (WFIMC), of which the Horowitz Competition is a member, because its statute says that a contest can only be adjourned with the consent of the federation’s General Assembly and only if there is no competition in the same nomination (piano contests) in the neighboring countries at the period to which the competition has been postponed.”
Which of the art patrons you turned to are willing to support you?
“The problem is that there is no law on art patronage in this country. Only very conscientious people can help under these circumstances. It is wonderful that there are people of this kind. This year the competition is 15 years old. It is Ukrsotsbank that has been and still is our friend and ally in all these years. McDonald’s has also been helping us for many years. Among those who have taken talented pianists under their auspices are Alpha-Bank, the Leonid Kuchma Foundation, the Kyiv Kleynod watch and clock factory, and many others who are really not indifferent to the destiny of junior musicians.”
How do the competition’s other projects, such as international festivals Kyiv Summer Musical Soirees, Virtuosos of the Planet, and Summer Music Academy, fare?
“Very badly! Last year we only managed to hold Summer Soirees and the Academy. It is a great pity that Virtuosos of the Planet, the world’s only festival which exclusively involves gold medalists of the World Federation’s competitions, failed to be held due to lack of funds. This year I hope the Ministry for Culture and Tourism will help. Maybe, we will manage to carry out all our projects.”
Is the competition capable now of supporting the previous years’ winners?
“Is this a stumper? Certainly not! The Kyiv City Administration stopped funding the competition and all its spin-offs – festivals and the academy – back in 2008. As is known, the mandatory requirement for competitions that are members of the World Federation and, since 2008, the European Federation is that winners be given a chance to play in concert. In all the years that the Horowitz Competition has existed, we have been providing our winners with an opportunity to give concerts in various countries. They performed at Carnegie Hall (New York), the UNESCO and Alfred Cortot halls (Paris), the Palace of Nations (Geneva), and the Moscow Conservatoire’s Grand Hall. Our winners have also given concerts in Norway, Denmark, Hungary, Israel, Romania, the Czech Republic, Italy, China, and Japan. We did it by way of exchange with the world’s major competitions. Their winners have also come here to play at the festivals Kyiv Summer Musical Soirees and Virtuosos of the Planet, while our pianists have been given an opportunity to hold concerts in the host countries.
“However, we have not been in a position to receive foreign musicians for the past two years and, accordingly, our winners travel abroad more infrequently. Yet Maria Kaluhina, Illia Zuiko, Oleksandra Kasman, Wong Wai Yin, Arseny Aristov, and Artem Kanke have given concerts in France, Poland, the US, Spain, Russia, and Egypt. But what made these concerts possible were visits of those countries’ musicians in 2007 and 2008. Last year we failed to receive anybody, so we can hardly hope that our winners will be visiting other countries in the near future.”
There has already been drawn a list of the upcoming competition’s participants. Were there any difficulties at the selection stage?
“The list of the participants was posted at the competition’s website on February 1. This was a compulsory requirement according to the rules of the 8th International Competition of Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz established as long ago as May 2007. We held the selection round last January. The greatest difficulty was to choose the most talented and skilled pianists with due account of the quantitative limit of no more than 80 contestants. For the program of a contestant in, say, the first round is 25 minutes, while it should take one at least 30 minutes to play in the second round. So we were to select as many participants as could fit into 14 days of competition. Naturally, it pained us the most when we had to reject Ukrainian children. Firstly, there were more of them than it is allowed and, secondly, we know only too well that, for many of our pianists, participation in a high-profile competition held in their home country is the only opportunity to show themselves. For it is financially very difficult for most of them to travel abroad.”
This time there is a new program called Host Family. How did the idea of this project come up and what are its main guidelines?
“During all high-profile competitions, contestants are accommodated in host families. The idea is that a contestant (usually an underage boy or girl) receives more attention and care in a family than, unfortunately, in any other place, such as a hotel or a hall of residence. Naturally, we could not afford this until recently because the problem of accommodation remained, to put it mildly, unresolved from the times of Bulgakov until the end of the 20th century. But now the situation is different, and there are a lot of well-to-do families that can host a child from a foreign country. Many households have excellent pianos, special guest rooms, and one or more cars, which makes it possible to drive the contestant to the philharmonic and back – in other words, there are possibilities now to apply the useful and positive experience of foreign countries.
“So we issued a call for hosting our contestants. The requirements are not so stringent: to host and settle the contestant in an isolated room, if possible, make a piano available (or drive him every day to the Gliere Institute of Music for a rehearsal), take care of him, and not to let him go out unaccompanied, especially in the evening. That is all. It is gratifying that many Ukrainian families have expressed their desire to host young pianists. We are also pleased that US Embassy diplomats, who have acquired wide experience in this, are taking an active part in the project.”
Mr. Zilberman, are you still studying the life and oeuvre of Vladimir Horowitz? (Zilberman is the author of the book Vladimir Horowitz’s Kyiv Symphony. – Interviewer)
“After the book had come out, I continued to work on the subject ‘Horowitz in Kyiv.’ I have written a dissertation, a book on the pianist’s youth, and about 20 articles. I found a host of interesting documents that expose some unknown pages in the great pianist’s musical career at Yale University which keeps the personal archive of Vladimir Horowitz and his wife Wanda Horowitz-Toscanini. Last year the Moscow journal Academia published a big article on the professional and personal contacts between Sergei Rachmaninoff and Vladimir Horowitz. Soon to be published is an article on the pianist’s charity during World War Two (incidentally, it tells, among other things, about the Millennium Concert for which the Federal Treasury earned a tremendous amount – about a billion dollars in today’s money). A major work on the musician’s formative years has come out as part of a Yale University research project. We are now working on an essay about the friendship and professional contacts between two great Ukrainian musicians – Nathan Milstein and Vladimir Horowitz.”
