NEWS & NOTES
AHEAD OF THE COMPETITION
The proliferation of music
competitions around the
world means that events are
now vying with each other
to provide added value to
performers and audiences
alike. Stephen Wigler
discovers how the Montreal
Competition is making its
presence felt this year
P
IANO COMPETITIONS ALLOW
pianists to compete among
themselves for prizes. However,
the growing abundance of such contests
has created a new phenomenon: in
recent months, established competitions
such as the Van Cliburn in Fort Worth
and the Cleveland International Piano
Competition have increased their prize
money, levels of career support and the
number of events and festivities during
the course of the competition.
‘Competitions are now competing
with each other,’ explains Christiane
LeBlanc, the executive and artistic director
of the Concours Musical International
de Montréal (CMIM, known in the
Anglophonic world as the Montreal
International Music Competition). LeBlanc
was discussing the CMIM’s forthcoming
edition (2 to 12 May 2017), which will
be devoted to pianists. Unlike any other
competition in North America, the CMIM
is held every year, devoted to voice, violin
and piano in a three-year rotation.
This year’s focus on the piano will be
especially significant, adds LeBlanc: ‘We
are celebrating our 15th anniversary, along
with the city of Montreal which celebrates
its 375th birthday. So we are part of this
beautiful city’s festivities. In addition, we
are hosting the general assembly of the
World Federation of International Music
Competitions (10 to 12 May): 85 delegates
will be attending the CMIM’s Gala
concert on May 12, at which our three
top-prize winners will perform.’
The importance of this year’s
competition can be gauged by a number
12
of changes. The prize money has increased
dramatically – from around $84,000
(Canadian dollars) to more than $130,000.
This is due to the addition of a $50,000
career development grant to the first-prize
winner. The gift comes from Toronto’s
Azrieli Foundation, which has made the
award to honour Joseph Rouleau, the
well-known Canadian operatic bass and
co-founder of the CMIM.
The CMIM actually had a predecessor,
the Montreal International Music
Competition/Concours international de
musique de Montréal, held from 1965
Christiane LeBlanc
until it was discontinued in 1991 because
it ran out of money. With the exception
of soprano Measha Brueggergosman
(2002) and pianists David Fray (2004)
and Beatrice Rana (2011), very few of
the laureates of the current Montreal
Competition have attained the stature
of the laureates of the first one. This has
a great deal to do with the proliferation
of international music competitions:
when the first Montreal Competition
began in 1965, there many fewer such
events. Another factor is the bewildering
and growing superabundance of great
talents over the last 20 years, along with
the dwindling of the audiences needed to
support their careers.
International Piano January/February 2017
Among the prodigious talents that have
emerged from the resurrected Montreal
Competition and have not received
due recognition are – just to mention
the pianists – Sergei Salov and Daria
Rabotkina (2002), Nareh Arghamanyan
(2008) and Kate Liu (2014).
‘Compared to Fort Worth’s Cliburn,
Warsaw’s Chopin and Moscow’s
Tchaikovsky, we are a young competition
and, internationally speaking, I would
say we are doing very well,’ says CMIM’s
LeBlanc. Indeed it seems that the
competition’s laureates may well stand
a better chance to gain an international
profile: the $50,000 grant for career
development should certainly help the
next first-prize winner.
Other developments augur well for the
Montreal Competition’s future. CMIM
has assembled a remarkable jury, which
easily matches the calibre of those found
at more famous international contests.
Among the panel are distinguished
international pianists such as Idil Biret,
Dang Thai Son, Christina Ortiz and
Gabriel Tacchino, joined by R Douglas
Sheldon, senior vice president and director
of Columbia Artists Management, who
is one of classical music’s best-known,
influential and powerful artist managers.
The CMIM has also engaged Claus
Peter Flor, one of the finest conductors
of his generation, to lead the Montreal
Symphony in the competition’s final
round. ‘For young musicians – even if
they do not win first prize – it will be an
extraordinary opportunity to work with so
major a musician and to benefit from his
experience and guidance,’ says LeBlanc.
Over the course of the next few seasons,
the CMIM has arranged for more than 20
engagements – mostly in Canada, but also a
few in Europe – for its laureates and finalists.
‘So many very gifted musicians enter
this competition,’ says LeBlanc. ‘What all
competitions are obliged to do is to give
these young artists opportunities
to shine.’
The fifth Concours Musical International de
Montréal dedicated to piano will take place
in Montreal, Canada, from 2 to 12 May 2017.
www.concoursmontreal.ca