2022 - piano

Presentation

The 76th Concours de Genève is offering piano & composition and will take place during the autumn 2022. The Competition  is open to all pianists born after 1 September 1992. Application deadline was 15 March 2022.


CALENDAR

Our vision

SEEKING OUTSTANDING ARTISTS

The international music world has been and still is deeply affected by the Covid-19 crisis of 2020-2021. Young artists are faced with an increasingly competitive market, which is directly impacting their career plans.

It is now more than ever important for young musicians to distinguish themselves through a strong artistic project. Talent alone is not enough to launch an international career; the public and the market are looking for outstanding personalities. Today’s artists must be capable of stirring their listener on multiple levels, they must be awe-inspiring virtuosos. Both audiences and concert organizers are on the lookout for strong and rich personalities, young artists who dazzle us with their talent, musicians who make us dream, interpreters who make us feel enriched and more alive. Outstanding artists!

Concours de Genève's mission is to discover, promote and support talented young artists. To better complete this mission, we have added an extra stage to our semi-final rounds; in addition to the musical programme, candidates will have to defend an artistic project, which we will then help them to realize once they are laureates.

True to its history and its unrivalled record of laureates, which include more than 800 names, the Concours de Genève seeks complete artists, cultivated interpreters, inspiring virtuosos, creators of emotion.
 

COMPETITION FORMAT :

1) ONLINE COMPETITION

  • Preliminary round (video selection)
  • Online Recital (video)

2) COMPETITION IN GENEVA

  • Semi-Final round in 3 parts :

  1. Recital
  2. Chamber music
  3. Personal artistic project
  • Final round with orchestra
    Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, dir. Marzena Diakun

 

 

Programme

All pieces must be performed by heart, except for the chamber music programme (Semi-final) and for the contemporary piece (Recital Round). Exceptions may be accepted upon request. Candidates may choose the order in which they wish to perform their programme during each round.
 

A. PRELIMINARY ROUND - VIDEO RECORDING (20 -  30 min.)

  1. A. Mozart or J. Haydn : 2 contrasted movements from a piano Sonata
     
  2. J. S. Bach: one among the following pieces at free choice:
  • Preludes & Fugues (Well-Tempered Clavier) BWV846 – BWV893
  • Partitas (min. 3 movements) BWV825 – BWV831
  • Toccatas BWV910 – BWV916
  • English Suites (min. 3 movements) BWV 806 – BWV811
  • French Suites (min. 3 movements) BWV 812 – BWV817
  1. F. Chopin or F. Liszt: ONE Etude at choice
  • Chopin: Etudes Op. 10 OR Etudes Op. 25
  • Liszt: Transcendental Etudes S. 139 OR Etude de Paganini S. 141
  1. Fourth piece at free choice (piano solo)
  • The piece at free choice is meant to show candidates' musical personality
  • Recording all the movements is not mandatory.
  • The works chosen for the preliminary round may be performed again during the competition.
  1. Personal presentation: candidates must join to their preselection video a text or a short video (max. 3 minutes) in which they introduce themselves and explain why they want to participate in the Geneva Competition.

B. ONLINE RECITAL (max. 40 candidates - max. duration 45 min.)

Free 45 minute recital, must include a work from the "contemporary" list (see below).
The choice of works, their originality and the relevance of their arrangement are an element of the judgement.  


C. SEMI-FINAL ROUND IN 3 PARTS (max. 8 candidates)

Each candidate competes in all three phases, and the jury will decide on all three phases.
The three phases count for the calculation of the final evaluation

  1. SOLO RECITAL (60-75 minutes): 45% of the evaluation
  • The program of the recital is at the free choice of the participants. It must be constructed as a concert and explained by a program note (in one of the following languages: French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic).     
     
  • The jury will take into account in its judgment the elaboration of the program, its interest and of course its execution.
  1. CHAMBER MUSIC / ACCOMPANIMENT (30-40 minute): 35% of the evaluation
  • L. v. Beethoven : one of the 5 Sonatas for Piano and Violoncello at free choice.     
    The Geneva Competition provides the Cellist.
     
  • One of the Song/Lieder cycles from the Annex list « Song/Lieder »
    The Geneva Competition provides the Vocalist.
  1. PERSONAL ARTISTIC PROJECT (PRESENTATION & DEFENSE): 20% of the evaluation
  • The semi-finalist is invited to propose an artistic project to be carried out during the two years following the awarding of a prize in the competition.  
  • The project may take various forms, be purely musical in nature (recital program, concerts tour) or involve other forms of artistic expression (visual, textual, dance) with other artists.  
  • The artistic project must be realistic but ambitious, must be able to be proposed within the framework of a festival, a concert season, a theater, a tour, etc.   
  • The artistic project must be an original proposal, intimately linked to the artistic personality of the semi-finalist (no projects already proposed in the past or copied from other artists).
  • The project may be presented in the form of a text, a projected presentation, a video or any other medium.
  • The project will be prepared, adapted (if necessary) and further developed during the one-month timeframe between the announcement of the semifinalists and the arrival in Geneva. Online interactive sessions with professional coaches are organized. 
  • When in Geneva, a journalist willconduct a filmed interview (in French, English, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese or Arabic) which will allow to better understand the personality of the semi-finalist and the relevance of the artistic project.     
  • The Jury will review the projects at the end of the semi-final phase. It will evaluate the project, taking into consideration its artistic interest, its originality, whether it is adapted to the artist who presents it, and its relevance in the context of the beginning of a career.    
  • The Jury will take into account the report of the specialist(s) who assisted the semi-finalist and examine the stages of realization of the project, judging to what extent they are realistic.

D. FINAL ROUND WITH ORCHESTRA (3 finalists)

At choice, one of the following concertos:

  • Ludwig van Beethoven: Concerto n°3 in C minor Op. 37
  • Ludwig van Beethoven: Concerto n°4 in G Major Op. 58
  • Ludwig van Beethoven: Concerto n°5 in Eb Major Op. 73
  • Béla Bartók: Concerto n° 3 Sz 119
  • Johannes Brahms: Concerto n°1 in D minor Op. 15
  • Frédéric Chopin: Concerto n°1 in E minor
  • Frédéric Chopin: Concerto n°2 in F minor
  • Franz Liszt: Concerto n°1 in Eb Major
  • Franz Liszt: Concerto n° 2 in A Major
  • Serge Prokofiev: Concerto n° 2 in G minor Op. 16
  • Serge Prokofiev: Concerto n° 3 in C Major Op. 26
  • Maurice Ravel: Concerto in G
  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Concerto n° 2 in G minor Op. 22
  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Concerto n° 4 in C minor Op. 44
  • Robert Schumann: Concerto in A minor Op. 54
  • Piotr Tchaikovsky: Concerto n° 1 in B flat minor

Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
conducted by Maržena Diakun

Annex 1 : « Contemporary » List of mandatory works to be chosen for the Recital online :

Annex 1 : « Contemporary » List of mandatory works to be chosen for the Recital online :

  • Luciano Berio: Sequenza IV (12')
  • *William Blank: Lightnings (8’)
  • Pierre Boulez: 12 Notations (11')
  • Pierre Boulez: 1ère Sonate (12')
  • Elliot Carter: Caténaires (4’)
  • Unsuk Chin: 3 Études (at free choice) (env. 15’)
  • Henri Dutilleux: 3 Préludes (12')
  • Beat Furrer: Voicelessness. The Snow Has No Voice (10’)
  • Stefano Gervasoni: Studio di disabitudine  (14')
  • György Kurtag: 8 Klavierstücke Op. 3 (7')
  • Michael Levinas: Trois Etudes (10')
  • György Ligeti: 3 Etudes (at free choice) env. 12’
  • Olivier Messiaen: Petites esquisses d'oiseaux (14')
  • Rebecca Saunders: Shadow (11’)
  • Salvatore Sciarrino: One Piano Sonata (10')
  • Karlheinz Stockhausen: Klavierstück IX (11')
  • *Stefan Wirth: Faims II (5’)
  • Iannis Xenakis: Evryali (10‘)

*Scores available at the secretariat of Geneva Competition

Annex 2 : « Song/Lieder » List of mandatory Song/Lieder cyces to be chosen for the Semi-final:

  • M. Moussorgski: Songs and Dances of the Death (20’)
  • F. Liszt: Tre Sonetti di Petrarca (19’)
  • H. Wolf: 3 Goethe Lieder (Ganymed, Der Rattenfänger, Prometheus) 16'
  • C. Debussy: Proses lyriques (19’)
  • F. Poulenc: Tel jour telle nuit (14’)
  • A. Schönberg: 4 Lieder op. 2 (13’)
  • A. v. Zemlinsky: 6 Gesänge op. 13 (16’)
  • A. Berg: 7 frühe Lieder (15’)

 

Jury

OFFICIAL JURY

Janina Fialkowska, Chair (Canada)
Florent Boffard (France)
Josu de Solaun (Spain / USA)
Till Fellner (Austria)
Momo Kodama (Japan)
Marianna Shirinyan (Armenia / Denmark)
Gilles Vonsattel (Switzerland / USA)    
 

PRESELECTION JURY

Janina Fialkowska
Momo Kodama
Jan Schultsz
Louis Schwizgebel
Pierre Sublet
 

 

           

Candidates 2022

The Preselection Jury, chaired by Canadian pianist Janina Fialkowska, met in Geneva from 5-8 April 2022 for the Preliminary Round, during which the 182 candidates’ videos recordings were projected on a large screen at the Théâtre du Salon. The Jury has just released the list of selected candidates: 40 pianists aged 16 to 29 years old from 14 countries (14 women & 26 men) have been chosen to take part in the 76th Concours de Genève

Semi-Finalists

 

Prizewinners

OFFICIAL PRIZES

FIRST PRIZE (CHF 20,000.-)
Kevin Chen (17 years old, Canada)

SECOND PRIZE (CHF 12,000.-)
Sergey Belyavsky (28 years old, Russia)

THIRD PRIZE EX AEQUO (CHF 8,000.-)
Kaoruko Igarashi (28 years old, Japan)
Zijian Wei (24 years old, China)


SPECIAL PRIZES

AUDIENCE PRIZE (CHF 1500.-)
Sergey Belyavsky (28 years old, Russia)

The Audience Prize is awarded by the spectators of the Final Rounds. The finalist who receives the most ballots is the winner of this prize.

YOUNG AUDIENCE PRIZE (CHF 1000.-)
Kevin Chen (17 years old, Canada)

The Young Audience Prize is awarded by a group of students from public and private schools in Geneva, having formerly received a specific training. Their evaluation assesses the two Final Rounds with orchestra.

STUDENTS' PRIZE (CHF 1000.-)
Sergey Belyavsky (28 years old, Russia)

The Students’ Prize is awarded by a group of students from the Faculty of Music and the Department of Musicology of the University of Geneva, who evaluate both Finals. It is integrated in their official curriculum. The Students’ Prize is offered by Ms. & Mr. Hervieu-Causse.

ROSE-MARIE HUGUENIN PRIZE (CHF 10,000.-)
Sergey Belyavsky (28 years old, Russia)
Kevin Chen (17 years old, Canada)
Kaoruko Igarashi (28 years old, Japan)
Zijian Wei (24 years old, China)

This prize is awarded to all piano laureates and gives them the opportunity to benefit from a personal grant, contributing towards the realisation of their artistic projects. The scholarship is managed by the Competition.

FONDATION ETRILLARD PRIZE (CHF 5000.-)
Kevin Chen (17 years old, Canada)

The « Fondation Etrillard » Prize is awarded by the Jury to the finalist having presented the most remarkable personal artistic project during the semi-final round.

CONCERTS DE JUSSY PRIZE (CHF 3000.-)
Kevin Chen (17 years old, Canada)

The «Concerts de Jussy» Special Prize is awarded to the winner of the Piano Competition and consists in a concert on November 6th at the Temple de Jussy.

PADEREWSKI PRIZE (CHF 3000.-)
Sergey Belyavsky (28 years old, Russia)

Awarded to a pianist who demonstrates particularly expressive playing in a romantic tradition. The winner is given the opportunity to perform two concerts: one in Switzerland and one in Poland.

SOCIÉTÉ DES ARTS PRIZE (3000.-)
Kevin Chen (17 years old, Canada)

The Arts Society Prize is awarded by the Jury to one of the three finalists of the piano competition and consists in a chamber music concert organised by the Société des Arts as part of its mentoring programme. The winner will perform during the year 2023 with an established professional musician chosen by agreement between the Competition and the Société des Arts.

STEINWAY PRIZEWINNER CONCERTS PRIZE
Sergey Belyavsky (28 years old, Russia)
Kevin Chen (17 years old, Canada)

One or several concerts within the Steinway Prizewinner Concerts Network, for one or two laureates of the Piano Competition.

GEORGES LEIBENSON PRIZE (CHF 3000.-)
Vsevolod Zavidov (17 years old, Russia)

The «Georges Leibenson» Special Prize is awarded freely by the Piano Jury.

PAUL STREIT PRIZE (CHF 3000.-)
Adria Ye (24 years old, United States)

The Paul Streit Special Prize is awarded to a particularly deserving pianist

 

Career development

The Geneva Competition offers an ambitious career development programme, providing precious support and advice to help boost laureates' careers

CONCERTS
In addition to the official prizes, laureates benefit from two years of management from the concert agency Sartory Artists. The key to a series of performances, allowing them to take their first steps in Swiss and international concert venues.

RECORDINGS
Each year, one winner is given the opportunity to record a CD with orchestra. Distributed by the label La Dolce Volta, these recordings are an excellent means of promotion for young artists at the beginning of their career.

CONCERT TOUR
During the two years following their prize, laureates are offered an international concert tour. A great way to promote the Geneva Competition abroad and a unique opportunity for prize-winners to establish an international reputation

WORKSHOPS
Each year, the Geneva Competition offers a Prizewinners Workshop. During one week, participants can take part in a series of workshops comprising different subjects, such as performance, health, career management, image and social media.