AAF-2024

Essential matters

Which aspects of an international piano competition are the most important? Pianists and organisers of music competitions may have different views on what they consider important. Naturally, one may hope that they all love music and that what they do is for the sake of good music. But at competitions, there may be different priorities and it may also happen that there is a conflict of interests. When the Alink-Argerich Foundation was founded, the main objectives were formulated in the statutes, together with a list of specific actions. In principle, AAF should assist classical musicians in their careers by indicating the role that competitions may or may not play, and to help them find their way in this circuit to a satisfactory fulfilment in their lives as a professional musician. One of AAF’s prime activities has always been the collection and diffusion of information about the competitions (which was on top of the list in the statutes). During its first 20 years of existence, AAF has been present at many international piano competitions all over the world. This is important as we need to see what really happens at the competitions and to observe which conditions the pianists have to deal with when taking part in these events, such as the quality of the instrument(s), the hall, presence of an audience, position and conduct of the jury, performance schedule, practicing facilities, accommodation or other arrangements and further organisational aspects. Maintaining good personal relations with the organisers, contestants and jury members is also vital. It is also important to know about the after-care of the prize winners by the organisers. Unfortunately, it still happens that pianists do not immediately receive their prize money or do not get the promised concert engagements and are sometimes kept waiting for a very long time … More and more, participants and organisers, but also jury members and others approach AAF with their worries or inform us about matters that disturb them. We take this very seriously and try our best to help resolve the problems or to give advice, thinking of the positions, interests and implications for all persons involved. It is crucial that AAF always keeps its independent position and remains objective in order to serve as a reliable information centre and to provide useful services for musicians and competitions. To enhance this, AAF will become more pro-active and will undertake further initiatives in order to be able to evaluate the competitions and assess their merits and their positions. Pianists, organisers and jury members will be asked to provide their opinions and to share their experiences. AAF will also inform the organisers when we notice an inaccuracy, mistake or discrepancy in the rules or on their websites. We hope that this, as well as the meetings and the AAF Conference, can help and may eventually lead to an improvement for some of the competitions and a somewhat greater satisfaction for the participants.

Alink-Argerich Foundation 2024