Mark of quality
The World Federation of Music Competitions continues to welcomes new members. Here we introduce the newest, each with its own special qualities and unique character
Classical music changed forever last C century as waves of European composers and performers crossed the Atlantic to find refuge from revolution and repression. Today’s shaping forces of globalisation, digital media and air travel have continued the transformation, connecting audiences around the world with Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, while creating the conditions for composers born far from central Europe to enrich the repertoire. The World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC), founded in 1957 by Europe’s leading contests, has broadened its membership base in recent years in line with classical music’s expanding global reach.
The WFIMC’S international outlook is clear from the latest additions to its membership list, which includes two new competitions in Asia. ‘I am pleased to welcome six new members from various parts of the world to WFIMC,’ comments Florian Riem, the organisation’s newly appointed Interim Secretary General and CEO of the Tongyeong international Music Festival and the ISANGYUN Competition in South Korea. ‘As we continue to expand, it is ever more important for me to safeguard and focus on the values that the World Federation stands for: artistic excellence, flawless organisation, fairness and integrity’.
Riem surveys the WFIMC’S changing geographical balance and growing presence throughout Asia from his office in Korea. The next WFIMC General Assembly, he notes, is set to take place in Hamamatsu, Japan in 2020. ‘Traditionally, the majority of our member competitions have always been based in Europe. While a growing number of competitions come from countries in Asia, it is also great to welcome two new member competitions in China and Singapore.’
Éva Marton International Singing Competition
Hungarian pride and passion combined in 2014 to create the Éva Marton International Singing Competition. The biennial event was established by Éva Marton in her role as professor at the
Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. The dramatic soprano’s brainchild grew from her desire to encourage independence and self-confidence among young singers.
András Csonka, Programme Director of the Liszt Academy’s Concert Centre, says that Marton had long planned to hold a competition in her home city. The project found an ideal partner following the Concert Centre’s opening in 2013. ‘She gave us the idea,’ he recalls. ‘Before the Academy’s reconstruction, we didn’t have a concert management department. We set up a team to organise concerts and it became the basis for the competition. It was a first for us and has helped build our expertise.’
Csonka and his colleagues also run the Bartók World Competition and are rebuilding the Budapest Liszt Competition. ‘The Federation is a very prestigious organisation and we’re proud to become a member,’ he says. ‘It is a big thing for the Liszt Academy. For Hungarian singing students, the Marton Competition is a benchmark. It’s important for them to step on to the international stage and be judged with the world’s best young singers.’
International Stanislaw Moniuszko Vocal Competition
Stanislaw Moniuszko, born two centuries ago this year, fell into relative obscurity beyond Poland following his death. The composer became the ‘father of Polish opera’, thanks not least to works such as Halka, an international success, and Straszny Dwór. Warsaw’s Wielki Theatre, which he served as director in the mid-1800s, has led the Moniuszko bicentenary celebrations
with landmark dates, including the 10th edition of the International Stanislaw
Moniuszko Vocal Competition. The biennial event, established in 1992 by the soprano Maria Foltyn, joined the WFIMC
just after its most recent edition in May.
‘This was our biggest competition yet,’ says its director, Beata Klatka. ‘We had already made important changes to the jury structure in 2013. Its members were mostly high-profile singers or singing teachers before that, but we brought in agents, critics, casting directors and other influential people from the music business. Our competition is demanding for some young singers because it includes two obligatory Polish pieces. But we feel they benefit from discovering music by Moniuszko, Szymanowski, Karlowicz and so on and
‘The Federation stands for artistic excellence, fairness and integrity’
from adding this music to their repertoire.’
Klatka says that achieving Federation membership felt like winning a prize.
The recognition, she adds, places the Moniuszko Competition in company with Poland’s WFIMC founding members, Warsaw’s Frédéric Chopin International Piano Competition and Poznans
Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition. ‘It’s important that we’re seen in this company. Maria Foltyn, who
died in 2012, started our competition at a time of difficult transition in Poland after the collapse of communism. She dreamt of joining the Federation and I know she would have been delighted that we have become members.’
Andorra International Saxophone Competition
In the world of microstates, Andorra stands proud. The tiny landlocked nation, Europe’s sixth smallest, consists of seven parishes clustered in valleys formed by the eastern Pyrenees. Tourism accounts for most of its income, a point not lost on the founders of the Andorra International Saxophone Competition, saxophonist Efrem Roca and Jordi Llorens Musoles, a veteran of Spain’s film and TV industry. Their enterprise, launched five years ago and held every April since, arose from the success of a three-day pilot project of saxophone workshops, masterclasses and concerts in 2013. The competition’s festive feel is one of its trademarks, along with its jury’s high calibre and the adventurous spirit of its contestants.
‘It’s been hard to make this happen every year,’ Llorens Musoles admits. ‘But we think it’s very important for young players to have the opportunity.’ Efrem Roca agrees. ‘One of my students at the Institute of Music in Andorra asked me when he would be ready to take part in a competition,’ he recalls. ‘It was very difficult for young players in Andorra then to get that experience, which is where the idea for our competition came from.’
The self-styled ‘sax guys’ created a
Solo Youth Sax Competition in 2017 for players up to the age of 18 to complement Andorra’s main solo saxophone competition. ‘Social media means we can reach people,’ says Llorens Musoles. ‘We had our first Japanese competitor in 2018 and attracted 60 players this year from all over the world. We want people to know about Andorra and what we’re about. That’s why to have the WFIMC’S international recognition really matters.’
Luciano Berio International Composition Competition
Few composers did more to soften prejudices against ‘difficult’ contemporary music than Luciano Berio. His approach, both pragmatic and idealistic, informs the Luciano Berio International Composition Competition, launched this year by the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in collaboration with the Centro Studi Luciano Berio, the Associazione Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala, the Fondazione Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai.
‘Among the 20th century’s great composers, Berio was among the most active in keeping music at the centre of global cultural debate,’ observes Michele dall’ongaro, President of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. ‘He always focused on a very broad front: from television broadcasts to the creation of electro-acoustic research centres, teaching to writing essays, articles and debates, and, of course, composition. In each he aspired to the highest quality.’
The new competition, open to composers up to the age of 40, aims to encourage others to follow Berio’s creative ethos. Its jury, led by Antonio Pappano, includes the composers Unsuk Chin,
Ivan Fedele, Tristan Murail and Augusta Read Thomas. They will select the most interesting voice from the competition’s initial submission of scores and invite
the winner to write a new symphonic work. The commission, worth 20,000, will be premiered by the Orchestra dell’ Accademia Nazionale di Santa
Cecilia under Pappano and programmed for subsequent performances by the competition’s partners.
‘The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia had an important relationship with the World Federation of International Music Competitions in the past,’ comments Michele dall’ongaro. ‘So for us it is a return. The Federation guarantees the highest quality level, which comes from its history, the international range of its activity, the strength of its organisation and partners.’
Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition
The Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition (SISIVC) has attracted capacity crowds and an online audience of over 10 million since its foundation in 2015. The biennial event was inspired by the late
Isaac Stern’s relationship with China and his commitment to music education in the People’s Republic. Contestants at next August’s third edition will perform a wide variety of music, complete with a newly commissioned Chinese work, a string quartet and core works from the solo and concerto repertoire.
‘The Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition was founded with the intent of being the first world-class violin competition in Shanghai,’ observes Fedina Zhou, President of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. ‘Maestro Stern had long used his musicianship to build cultural bridges. He came to China as the first Western musician since the beginning of the nation’s reform and its opening-up after the Cultural Revolution. We developed this competition to continue his lifelong dedication to fostering talent and sharing music.’
The competition’s international profile has risen in line with that of its key partner, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.
The latter’s widening global reach has opened post-contest opportunities to competition winners, as Zhou explains. ‘Together with the SISIVC, the orchestra has built cooperative relationships with world-class orchestras across Europe, America, Australia and Asia, making its extensive resources available to promising contestants with opportunities including arranging concert tours, recording and introductions to leading music agencies.’
Cherrie Chenyin, the SISIVC’S Executive Director, adds that the competition’s impressive jury line-ups and collaborations with outstanding musicians have been well received far beyond China. ‘We’re thrilled to have been accepted into the WFIMC,’ she says. ‘Since our founding, we’ve looked up to the Federation as a shining beacon of excellence, integrity, and support for young talent, values that the SISIVC also shares. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with the Federation and hope to learn from its member community.’
Singapore International Violin Competition
The triennial Singapore International
Violin Competition, held twice since
2015, describes itself as ‘Asia’s Grand
Prix for the World’s Best Emerging Violinists’. Its organisers, the Yong Siew
Toh Conservatory, National University of Singapore, in partnership with Singapore’s Esplanade Concert Hall and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, have certainly drawn top talent from around the world.
Professor Bernard Lanskey, Dean of the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, notes that the SIVC has established a strong national identity while reaching out to violinists worldwide. ‘Our last two winners, Yu-chien Tseng and Sergei Dogadin, went on to win Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Competition. Dogadin was here two weeks before winning the Tchaikovsky in June, giving lessons to eightyear-old violinists at 9am. He was here to work with these children because he’d been inspired by our competition. I would have given him the Tchaikovsky first prize for what he did that morning alone!’
Membership of the WFIMC offers, among its advantages, what Lanskey terms quality assurance. ‘From the beginning, we consulted the Federation for advice,’ he recalls. ‘We turned to people we knew had the experience to assess our approach and processes. As members of the Federation, we have greater opportunity to interact with other competitions and learn from each other. We’re looking forward to attending the WFIMC General Assembly for the first time in Japan next year.’
‘We want people to know about Andorra – that’s why the WFIMC matters’