DEVELOPING TALENT
So you’ve won a competition… now what? Why competitions have to be aware that winners’ careers need to be carefully managed
Maurizio Pollini made headline news in 1960 as winner of Warsaw’s International Chopin Piano Competition. The 18-year-old Italian was lionised by Arthur Rubinstein, who told his fellow jurors: ‘That boy plays better than any of us’. Pollini accepted a string of dates that came with his Chopin prize but soon realised he had yet to mature as an artist. He withdrew from the concert scene, took lessons from Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, and applied himself to study works by a handful of composers, Beethoven and Schumann among them. He returned to the stage only when ready.
While much has changed since then, the moral of Pollini’s tale has not. Like most young musicians, he needed time to develop; unlike many, he was prepared to seek advice from experienced professionals, to wait before leaping onto the career rollercoaster. The wisdom of Pollini’s approach contrasts with the fate of those who have won prestigious competitions, burned brightly for a few years and then vanished from the concert scene. Competition organisers worldwide are now working to manage their prize-winners’ expectations, helping them navigate early hazards on the road to a professional career.
The International Franz Liszt Competition in the Netherlands, in common with most members of the World Federation of International Music Competitions, organises worldwide concerts for its laureates. It also offers masterclasses for emerging keyboard talents – those who might compete for the Liszt prize in future – as part of a holistic career development scheme for first-class pianists. ‘We started this programme because we noticed a decline in the way the music industry was taking care of young talent,’ says Liszt Competition director Rob Hilberink.
Pollini needed time before leaping onto the career rollercoaster
Whereas record companies, promoters and agents once invested over the long term to develop the next generation of performers, the present trend favours short-term success and quick financial returns.
Competition winners can, without care, be propelled unprepared into a tough business, a high-stakes game that often races ahead of an individual’s artistic and emotional development. ‘Within the three years between competitions, we try to give our laureates as much experience as possible, to discover what it’s like to play to different audiences in different places around the world,’ notes Hilberink. ‘It’s a custom-made programme, built around the needs of each of our three winners.’
In effect, the Liszt Competition functions as an artist management, securing concert opportunities; a publicist, developing its laureates’ public image; and as a professional mentor. ‘Just after last October’s competition, we arranged a series of workshops for our prize-winners,’ Hilberink recalls. ‘These included media training, to help them communicate the points they wish to make and answer the same questions they’ll get from every journalist.’
The mentoring package included radio training, complete with simulated live and recorded interviews, and a day of professional
The mentoring workshops provide a space for dialogue
presentations given by an artist manager, a promoter and a record company’s A&R manager. ‘We were able to get across the way in which the professional world sees young artists and what it expects of them.’ Hilberink agrees that the music profession can learn from young artists, members of a generation facing challenges unimagined by those now in positions of power and influence within classical music. The mentoring workshops, he suggests, provide a space for dialogue as well as instruction.
‘My experience is that you can tell young musicians what’s going to happen and what they should do, but they learn most from firsthand experience. That’s why we have them travel to the other side of the world and deal with playing a concert while jet-lagged. We’re constantly in touch, talking to them about what they need and how they want to do things. Sometimes people become more enthusiastic with every experience; sometimes they discover that the life of a travelling musician is not for them.’
Another competition’s career development programme clearly suited Pavel Kolesnikov. The Russian-born artist, winner of the 2012 Honens International Piano Competition, recalls how the organisation used its financial and human resources to support him at a crucial time.
‘It was a very important step for me and a wonderful experience,’ says Kolesnikov. ‘Not much was prearranged, because they did not know what the winner would need, but we worked together as a team over three years.’
Kolesnikov explains that Honens helped him secure an agent and opened the door to his
first Hyperion recording. ‘I was not rushed to find a manager; in fact, they pulled me back from approaching agents for a long time. I also had time to build contacts with promoters on different continents and, of course, I met Mike Spring from Hyperion. He was on the jury and invited me to record after the competition.’ Although surprised by the offer, the young pianist proposed an all-tchaikovsky album and saw it through to its critically acclaimed release. Honens, meanwhile, promoted landmark recitals for Kolesnikov at Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall and other major venues.
Didier Schnorhk, secretary general of the Geneva International Music Competition, believes that front-rank competitions must do more than award prizes. As president of the World Federation of International Music Competitions, he speaks for the global family of competitions and on behalf of their competitors. The history of competitions, he notes, contains many examples of prize-winning musicians who have struggled to build a solo career. ‘There are many dangers for young musicians. The first thing we do in Geneva is to find concert opportunities for our laureates, but that’s often not enough. Some of them are already performing concertos or recitals every week. But others, especially those who are in their teens, need to continue their studies and pass their degrees. Only one or two competition winners in every decade will make a career immediately. The rest need to be carefully prepared for life as a solo artist.’
Geneva winners receive a minimum of two years’ support following the competition, which can be extended if required. ‘Offering concerts and recordings, which we began doing about 15 years ago, was the first step for our career development programme,’ recalls Didier Schnorhk. ‘Last year we added a week of mentoring workshops for our laureates in Geneva. It’s not only the recent winners who can benefit from this: we have invited people from five or six years ago, who were very young when they won and are still young today. It’s about helping them become more prepared for a career. I’m very proud of this initiative. We need to find funds to support this week of mentoring each year but see it as a good investment. Our aim is to help these incredible young musicians and take care of them. We want to give them time and space to grow, to be ready.’