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Guest post by Daniel Tong

The second edition of the Birmingham International Piano Chamber Music Competition will take place as part of the Conservatoire’s November Festival celebrating the role of the piano in chamber music. Six young ensembles, chosen at preliminary audition, will be invited to join the festival, give a recital, take part in masterclasses and compete for prizes that include a Wigmore Hall debut, commercial recording with Resonus Classics, mentorship and further concert engagements.

But why another competition? The arguments against are often-repeated: music is an art, not a sport; competitions encourage perfect technical performances of lowest-common-denominator artistic merit; it’s all a fix anyway, and the jury merely choose their own students. There has been some truth in all of these arguments, but none of them are essential to the idea of a music competition. The arguments in favour are made less often, and perhaps less clearly; it is down to the competitions themselves to take a lead.

In Birmingham I have created a competition that, I believe, does all within its power to make the experience positive for everyone involved. Of course there will be a winning ensemble, and those who are not chosen will be disappointed, but there is something on offer for everyone in a collegiate atmosphere of musical celebration. The competition takes place within a festival, where leading professional artists will perform alongside Royal Birmingham Conservatoire students and the six competing ensembles. These six young chamber groups will all be given the opportunity to take part in masterclasses, and their performances will be publicised as part of the Festival and livestreamed. The grand final livestream will be shared by Classic FM. All of the jury members will also play in concerts, dismantling some of the barriers between them and us. They will take their seats in the audience to listen to the young artists, rather than behind a desk with bottles of mineral water.

A competition gives anyone a chance. We have undertaken to hear all applicants at preliminary audition, either in person or by unedited video. Jury members will not be given references or biographies of the musicians that they hear. In a way, this is a fairer process than one in which an agent takes on an artist who is recommended to them by a friend, or who is already successful. To me, the argument that personal networking is a fairer process than a structured competition doesn’t make sense, and it can be guaranteed that all of our competitors will have plenty of chance to hone their networking skills in life before and after the event. Our competition also endeavours to make sure that there are no barriers to application, and that the open and accessible nature of video and livestream performance, which blossomed during the pandemic, are not lost in the rush to return to ‘normal’.

I have created a mark scheme for the competition that encourages artistic understanding and flair. So, although a performance that is a mess technically is unlikely to succeed, there are far more scoring categories that address artistic considerations than technical perfection. Of course ‘technique’ and ‘artistry’ are intertwined, the former being the means of producing the latter, but we have all been deeply moved by performances that couldn’t necessarily have been put out into the sanitised world of CD recording. Our mark scheme recognises this; music will inevitably be beautifully subjective, but this will be the case when our young artists gain reviews and are received by audiences in concert. And this is the nub: I would far rather that we rewarded artistry, communication, beauty, feeling and all of the attributes of music that elevate it above so much else in life, than focussed on the rather more mundane and measurable, even if highly-skilled, qualities. This is, I think, another important idea for our competition to own: we are looking for the ensemble who win on the night. The music that touches us and somehow steals the show. We are not trying to conjecture as to who are the ‘best’.

Oh, and the jury aren’t allowed to score or advocate for any ensembles with which they have a prior connection.

So, I hope that many young ensembles will throw their hat into the ring, and I look forward to welcoming six of them to Birmingham in November, when we will celebrate piano chamber music in all of its many guises.

Birmingham International Piano Chamber Music Competition takes place between 14th and 16th November 2022. Applications are welcomed from duos, trios and quartets with an average age of 28 or under, as long as the ensemble includes a single piano.

Find out more / apply

Daniel Tong

 

 

 

Daniel Tong’s website

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Lauren Zhang (16) has won the 2018 edition of BBC Young Musician with a coruscating performance of Prokofiev’s 2nd Piano Concerto. A pianist of quiet poise, the Prokofiev was a bold choice, but Lauren owned it from the very first bars, revealing not only exceptional technically mastery but also acute musical intelligence and insight in a work of striking contrasts, substance and depth. At only 16, Lauren already seems fully formed as a musician, and throughout the competition she has displayed a level of artistry and musical maturity commensurate with a professional performer at least twice her age. Even viewed on television, it was clear Lauren has a special presence, displaying phenomenal power and control but with no loss of clarity or quality of sound. At times it was almost as if she was playing the music for herself only, free of unnecessary gestures or pianistic histrionics, and with an exceptional economy of movement, given the muscularity of Prokofiev’s writing. Thus the music could fully speak, communicate, and  touch us. I can only imagine the electric intensity of that presence in Symphony Hall during her live performance.

Lauren was joined in the competition final by two other exceptional young musicians. Cellist Maxim Calver’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations was rich in witty interplay between him and the orchestra, elegant intonation, and an infectious sense that he was thoroughly enjoying this music. The third finalist was Rob Burton, the second consecutive saxophonist to reach the final of the competition (Jess Gillam, a wonderfully positive ambassador for the instrument and music making in general, was a finalist in 2016). His performance of Paul Creston’s Saxophone Concerto was vibrant, colourful and expressive. All three finalists were worthy winners in a contest where, ultimately, music triumphs.

Maxim Calver, Rob Burton and Lauren Zhang

On the day when previous BBCYM winners, including oboist Nicholas Daniel and violinist Nicola Benedetti, published an impassioned plea in a national newspaper to give all schoolchildren the opportunity to engage with music and learn a musical instrument, it is worth noting that this year’s BBCYM finalists all attend independent or specialist music schools. I know I’m not alone in fearing that with erosion of music provision in UK state schools, music is in serious danger of becoming the preserve of the privileged – either in fee-paying schools or via families who can afford private music lessons for their children.

Whatever one may feel about music competitions (and I tend to agree with Bartok’s view), BBCYM is a wonderful celebration of young people’s music making and should be an inspiration to all.

(Header photo by Greg Milner)

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The BBC’s biennial Young Musician competition reached its thrilling climax in an absorbing, nail-biting and inspirational final concert at London’s Barbican on Sunday 15th May and I was privileged to be a member of the audience for this wonderful celebration of shared music making.

In the nearly 40 years since it was founded, the prestigious competition to find the nation’s top young classical talent has become something of a national treasure. It has “discovered” many fine musicians, including Nicholas Daniel (oboe), Emma Johnson (clarinet), Freddy Kempf (piano), Guy Johnston (cello), Jennifer Pike (violin) and Benjamin Grosvenor  (piano), to name but a very few, and continues to inspire and support aspiring young musicians. The programme also regularly poses important questions about child prodigies, the hot-housing of talented children, private education, specialist music schools and music education in the UK, but fundamentally the competition emphasises the joy and pleasure that music brings to those who play it, engage with it and listen to it. This was particularly evident at the Barbican on the afternoon of the final where there were activities for eager young musicians of all ages and abilities ahead of the final concert and during the intervals.

In the old days, when I watched the programme avidly as a teenage piano student (frustrated that I was never quite good enough to enter the competition), it was all rather wooden, cringeworthy, and geeky. In recent years, the programme has had a glitzy makeover and now bears more than a passing resemblance to shows like Britain’s Got Talent and The Voice, though the format remains the same with talented young people competing in instrumental categories (keyboard, woodwind, brass, strings and percussion) to be selected for the semi-final and then the grand final. In a neat piece of continuity, Clemency Burton-Hill, daughter of the competition’s co-creator Humphrey Burton, was presenter of this year’s television coverage and final concert.

This year’s finalists were French horn player Ben Goldscheider (18), saxophonist Jess Gillam (17) and cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason (17). All the category finals revealed some incredibly talented and dedicated young musicians, and what I found most reassuring was that all the young people involved in the competition expressed a real passion for their music. I am a firm believer that if one does not love it – whether one is a professional or amateur musician – there is little point in doing it! The range of instruments played and repertoire performed begs the question of how one chooses between one young musician and another because each instrument and its repertories presents its own unique technical, artistic and emotional challenges. In the final stages of the competition, technical mastery of one’s instrument is a given, and in the end the judgement comes down to aspects such as communication, stage presence and musicality. All three young finalists displayed these qualities in spades in their individual and very distinctive performances.

It is very hard to go first, and I felt Ben Goldscheider  was quite nervous. The French horn does not lend imageitself to much physical movement or gestures on stage., but his performance of Richard Strauss’s Horn Concerto no. 2 displayed concentration, fine intonation and a clear purpose.

cge-pcrwcaeji00Jess Gillam, a finalist in the 2014 competition, bounded onto the stage and mesmerized us in silver sequined leggings and Michael Nyman’s Where the Bee Dances. Her stage presence is charismatic, infectiously extrovert, and highly expressive – as is her sound which ranged from vibrant and imaginative to haunting and delicate. She was assured and very comfortable on stage, interacting enthusiastically with the orchestra and lifting the sound out of her instrument and into the audience. At just 17 she has already had a good deal of performing experience and this came across very clearly in her confident, colourful and technically assured playing

From his first notes of Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto no. 1 Sheku Kanneh-Mason was authoritative, thoughtful and totally committed. This music is a sophisticated choice for a teenager and Sheku rose to the technical and emotional challenges presented by Shostakovich’s music with an impressive maturity and musical insight. His modesty, evident throughout the competition, allowed him to stand back from the music and the resulting performance was intense and highly-charged.

While the jury were deliberating we were treated to a lively and witty performance of the first movement of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 3 by the 2014 winner, pianist Martin James Bartlett.

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Sheku Kanneh-Mason (photo: BBC)

Sheku Kanneh-Mason was awarded the top prize, but ultimately all three finalists are winners: to have reached the final of this competition is a credit to their dedication, passion and commitment to their music, and through this experience they all have the potential to be huge role models for a younger generation. Ben, Jess and Sheku are enormously talented, down-to-earth and likeable (all three attend state schools), and one hopes that they are given the opportunity to inspire young people from all walks of life to engage with and explore the wonders of classical music.

 

(This is a longer version of an article first published on Bachtrack.com. I am grateful to my friend and piano teaching colleague Rebecca Singerman-Knight for her input, and her company at the final).