AAF-2022

2021

Due to the ongoing pandemic several competitions were cancelled (again) in 2021, though not as many as in 2020. They were postponed to 2022 or kept their original schedule and skipped the 2021 edition (such as the competitions in Århus and Hamamatsu which will return in 2023 and 2024 respectively). Quite a few other competitions changed their format and were held online, or resorted to a hybrid form, having the first round online and a much smaller group of contestants perform live in the semi-finals or finals. At some competitions, the jury were partly present, partly judging online. This hybrid form was applied by the Arthur Rubinstein competition in Tel-Aviv. The finals were held live. Juan Pérez Floristán was declared the winner and took home many of the special prizes as well. (In 2015, he had also won the competition in Santander.) In April, the competition in Jaén (Spain) was held entirely live. This competition has a long history: it has been held annually for more than 60 years. Interestingly, in 2021 it received a record number of applicants: 89! Also other major competitions saw a substantial increase in the number of applicants. It shows how eager the pianists were, to perform live during the pandemic. At first, online competitions attracted many pianists, but then, their interest seemed to fade. In May 2021, it was wonderful that the Queen Elisabeth competition in Brussels could still take place, though without audience, which creates of course a totally different atmosphere. Jonathan Fournel came forth as the 1 st prize winner. Partly overlapping with Brussels, the competition in Montreal was held, though entirely online. It thus happened that six pianists, including Su Yeon Kim and Dmitry Sin, were competing online in Montreal and at the same time live in Brussels. Su Yeon won in Montreal, while Dmitry became laureat in Brussels. In May/June, the Géza Anda Competition was held in Zürich and won by Anton Gerzenberg. In July, a special online edition of the Sydney Competition was organised: all stages were streamed and the results were announced as if it concerned a live event. Winner was Alexander Gadjiev (who had also won Hamamatsu in 2018). In Summer, the effects of covid-19 seemed a bit less severe and the competitions in Barcelona, Bremen, Porto and other European cities could take place. During two weeks in July, the live auditions for the Chopin Competition in Warsaw were also held. The Cleveland Competition was held in a hybrid form and the victory went to Martín García García. In August, the final phase of the Busoni Competition was held in Bolzano, and in September the competitions in Leeds, Budapest and Dortmund took place. During three weeks in October, the famous Chopin Competition was celebrated in Warsaw, with all 87 participants, 17 jury members and a full audience! It was a musical event at the highest level, with superb quality streaming of all performances. Bruce Liu from Canada was the glorious winner among many other outstanding pianists and young musical talents in this competition. Gadjiev and García García were also recipients of top prizes again. Meanwhile, the Beethoven Competition in Vienna was won by Aris Alexander Blettenberg. A Bösendorfer Grand Piano was part of his prize package. In Bratislava, the Hummel Competition could just be concluded before another lockdown was imposed. Hans Suh took first prize of the Telekom Beethoven Competition in Bonn.

Alink-Argerich Foundation 2022