What’s in a winner?
competitors to manage stress in a high-pressure environment. ‘Japan is geographically far from everywhere,’ acknowledges Ogawa, ‘and you have to fly to get here. We are financially able to help and support the competitors, jet lag and all, who stay at a hotel. If they don’t get through to the next round, it’s their choice between flying back or staying with host families. If they wish to stay, we ask them to play at local centres, schools, shopping centres and so on. This enables the public who couldn’t get to the competition to hear them at these fringe events.’
Leeds, too, is known for looking after its competitors. They used to lodge with host families, but now they stay on campus at the University of Leeds. ‘When Adam [Gatehouse] and Paul [Lewis] came on board in 2018, Fanny Waterman insisted they made conditions as human as possible,’ says Sinclair. ‘We really do want competitors to feel looked after. They live at the university, they have good access to practice-pianos, they have meals prepared and there’s a team looking after them.’
For the five pianists who make it through to the concerto finals at Leeds, Clara Schumann’s Concerto is on the menu, in a first for the competition. Can it really stand up, as a true test for competitors, to heavyweight landmarks of the repertoire such as Rachmaninov’s Third and the two Brahms concertos? ‘It’s shorter,’ acknowledges Sinclair, ‘but we’d love to make the work more familiar to audiences. We discussed it with Imogen [Cooper, one of the judges] and others who know the work well – and it passes the test to be up there. We are also aware that promoters want to programme it. They have diversity targets to reach, so we have asked competitors to think about it.’
Second-round competitors at Hamamatsu are set a new work by a Japanese composer, commissioned this year from Saruya Toshiro. ‘I cannot reveal anything about it,’ says Ogawa, ‘because it will receive its world premiere at the competition – in 24 different versions! All I can say is that it’s seven minutes long and one doesn’t need to memorise it.’ Toshiro doesn’t get to vote, but he will give a lecture after the second round, and a dedicated award is made for the best performance of his piece.
Change is accompanied by continuity. Leeds and Steinway have renewed their mutual commitment, with the maker supplying instruments throughout the competition from the practice rounds onwards. Hamamatsu offers its competitors a choice between Yamaha, Kawai and Steinway. ‘The city of Hamamatsu is the home of every Japanese piano,’ explains Ogawa. ‘Both Yamaha and Kawai are based here. The very first piano in Japan was built by Mr Yamaha in 1900. He had been asked to repair a broken organ from America, and he brought it from Hamamatsu to Tokyo on foot! The rest is history. Mr Kawai was Mr Yamaha’s younger colleague, and he decided to branch off. Hamamatsu wants to honour these two craftsmen, alongside Steinway: in fact the city of Hamamatsu bought a new Steinway D for this year’s competition.’ She adds: ‘There’s a bit of competition between the instruments themselves!’
The most recent winners of both competitions have gone on to greater things despite their modest and unassuming manner. ‘Can Çakmur is very popular and famous in Japan,’ says Ogawa, ‘and his albums for BIS have often been nominated for prizes. We are proud that we went for this type of intellectual pianist rather than someone “big” and showy. He has a real analytic mind – very sincere, very honest.’ At Leeds in 2021, Alim Beisembayev astonished everyone with the ‘Devil’s Staircase’ Etude by Ligeti, which became the headline act on his debut album for Warner Classics. Last summer he made an impromptu debut at the BBC Proms, replacing an indisposed Benjamin Grosvenor at the last minute.
I can’t help wondering aloud whether the women behind the two competitions feel a sense of rivalry. ‘There are nearly a thousand international piano competitions out there!’ replies Ogawa. ‘We are happy for everyone! When the Hamamatsu started in 1991, they even looked at the Leeds model for help – how many stages there were, and so on.’ Sinclair agrees whole-heartedly: ‘One of the great joys of my job is going to the World Federation of Competitions every year. I feel that we are trailblazers at Leeds, and I love sharing our ideas and getting feedback. Other competitions want to see us take a risk. We all want the same goal; it’s all about supporting young pianists.’
Whatever their natural temperament, potential winners would do well to prepare for success as well as setbacks. The string of future engagements and publicity commitments bring their own pressures as well as rewards. Ogawa thinks back to her third-prize win at Leeds in 1987, when she played Prokofiev’s Third Concerto (available on YouTube). ‘That performance changed my life, literally overnight,’ she laughs. ‘I only had seven pounds left in my bank account at the time. And the prize money for third prize was very small back then. But I came away with many concerts, I had to return to the UK often and my life completely changed. I still remember Dame Fanny’s advice, right after the prize-giving: “Do not ever complain about the instrument, wherever you go. They are putting out their best instrument for you, the best they can afford.” So I never complained.’