Hello from Brazil, Ana! I studied piano from the age of 5, first in Uzbekistan (where my Russian parents worked on construction sites for the Soviet government), then in Moscow. In total, I studied for 17 years in institutions specializing in music education. At the age of 20, I emigrated to São Paulo because I got a job as an orchestra pianist, where the pay was very good. I worked there for 24 years doing everything - accompanying singers, all solo instrumentalists, playing piano and celesta in the orchestra. It was, let's be honest, a job far from my dreams, which is to play repertoire written for piano. I resigned from the orchestra this year and only now, at the age of 45, can I dedicate myself to studying the piano repertoire again. Everything you said about competitions is true. I agree with that and I'll say more: music competitions should be banned by universal law. You didn't mention the reality of the agencies that manage the artistic lives of soloists - these organizations determine the agendas of the winners of competitions. Not all, but some of them can be corrupt, and in their hands are the lives of musicians, who are mere hostages of the agents. It can be a disgusting reality, full of games and politics. I once participated in an international competition that was completely corrupt, in which my name was tarnished because of a member of the jury, who threatened me, asking me to withdraw my candidacy from the list of approved candidates. The name of this pianist is Ilan Rechtman and his name is tainted by involvement in many scandals. He tarnished my name for no reason, without me having done anything wrong in the admission process. I was 25 years old at the time. Today I live a life completely without any envolvement with piano society and I am not part of any educational institution. I earn my living giving private lessons and with part of this money I pay for my studio recordings, playing the music I love. When I receive invitations to play in front of orchestras, it is because of the recognition of my work alone, without involving any intermediary and without any corruption. Conductors call me and invite me because they think I am worthy of playing with an orchestra. I have no intention of ever joining any corrupt group and prefer to stay out of the loop, maintaining my integrity. Music is not about competition. Music should serve to bring beauty to this fallen and sad world.
Thank you for sharing this poignant journey you have been on. I’m glad you have worked it out so that you’re now playing the music you love the way you want to play it good for you best wishes.❤
Unfortunately, none of this is surprising, but it's great to hear it from someone who is speaking from experience and knowledge from others involved. Good to see you again!
The point about having a jury made up mainly of pianists is that - hopefully - they will have a good chance of being very familiar with pieces played, their difficulties and be in a better position to judge how 'well' it was played rather than a less knowledgeable public who are far more likely to be judging whether they liked the piece of music played rather than how well it was played.
@@adrianwright8685 I didn’t mean the jury should be made from public. I meant that the jury’s points should be announced publicly. Usually we don’t know who voted how.
@@AnnaKhomichkoPianist Ok understood. Now jury members in most competitions vote independently - indeed are forbidden from discussing competitors - I suspect that the votes are fairly evenly spread around with the winner not being significantly above the rest. Stephen Hough in a video that I now can't find, was a judge - for the Van Cliburn I think it was - and he said that in voting for the final 6 from the current 12, he was pleased to see he'd voted for 3 of the chosen 6. Of course if you set some monkeys to pick 6 from 12 then the average monkey would get 3 of the chosen 6!! I think it might be embarrassing to reveal how little correlation there is in the votes of jury members.
@@adrianwright8685I guess that just shows how subjective these things are, which then in my opinion devalue the whole idea of having a competition 'winner'.
Thank you, Anna, for your well-thought-out video. I enjoyed hearing you discuss these important aspects of competitions. Ultimately, the most important “competition” is the one within ourselves, striving to improve and do our best.
This video is very interesting, and show the reality about the artist life. I remember your performance on a piano competition are available on your Patreon. It reminds me the video about "The dark side of the pianist life". Thank you for your music and concerts.
If you go to a competition because you want to play in a beautiful hall on an excellent instrument , and make friends for life - go ! If you are “ planning “ to win it - you are bound to be disappointed.
Thank you so much for sharing your insight! I'm an amateur musician who was asked numerous times as a teen if I was going pro. Even at that age I could see that in the musical world, skill was secondary to politics. In more recent years I've noticed many musicians, even professionals, are deeply insecure about their work and I suspect part of this is because they know no matter how successful they have been, there are others equally talented who didn't achieve the same level of success because of factors outside their control - even if their opportunities were ample and prominent. I really appreciate having my suspicions confirmed by someone successful in the industry. And for what it's worth, your playing is downright majestic.
Hi, Anna. Thanks for your honest and interesting insights. I don’t know anything about the ins and outs of professional musicianship, I’m just a music lover, but I’ve always been skeptical of competitions, and suspected it was mainly a high-pressure money game. Music shouldn’t be reduced to this. Your suggestions at the end seem to me to be on the right track.
Tough but fair truths, Anna! Thanks for speaking out! I have been a juror in competitions (not music - Public Speaking!), and know too well what's going on behind the scenes. Only so much, it matches with what you expose here. Now musically speaking: 1) None of my three very top favorite contemporary pianists won a major competition. The first one, because her teacher didn't allow her to waste her time in that; she was already a [meteoric!] rising star. The second won third prize in a major prestigious competition- but by public acclaim, not from the jury. The third one never made it ever to any semifinals, although I consider her a top of the line pianist, at the same level as the first two. [Just for the records, all three are young ladies]. 2) The other way round, I watched three very prestigious competitions online, and none of my favorites, whose interpretations I liked best, made it to the semifinals in any of those. The winners, in all honesty, left me 'cold'. On the positive side, two major prestigious competitions have changed their approach somewhat in 1) Changing more to a Music Festival than a pure competition format, and 2) 'spreading' the prize winners, and inviting back even "lower tier" winners to their concerts and events- showing that winning or losing first place is not a matter of life or death for a young competing musician's career as it used to be. But until young musicians get a fairer deal in such events, still a lot of water will have to flow down the river.... [Names not named to avoid controversy, and although I have 50 years experience as a musician, I am not a professional pianist]
@GivernyLourens But of course there is the grand wise you who knows how to do it, however is very shy about telling what knowledge and professional expertise he/she has.
Do you feel that competitions lead to a uniform “correct” interpretation and discourage individuality in the few standard pieces? (For example in tempo)
An example: in Russia a child-violinist, taking anything by Bach or Tchaikovsky Valse-Scheerzo, is risking to be literally disqualified, apparently because these pieces are "for mature people with life experience" - however European competitions routinely put those pieces into the compulsory repertoir pieces for age groups 10-11, 12--15.
I'm not sure what exactly happend during the 2010 Chopin Competition, I think I read somewhere that they changed the rules in the middle of the competition, and Ingolf Wunder who was the favorite to win the competition, was pushed down to second place.
To my dearest most precious Anna...you said some absolutely brilliant things here...and...I have something to add. All competition, competitions...in the world...should be stopped...immediately. There is absolutely, absolutely...no love...in trying to be better than someone else. We are all equal...different, but equal. It is absolutely, absolutely impossible...to love someone...and also try to beat them in competition...absolutely impossible. Thank you for the video...and...I love you, Stanley ❤
The nature of our very "winner" oriented society always has us searching for competion for something "limited". On the otherhand, tech and social trends also drives a type of "lowest cost for massive amounts" behavior - why pay when you can get something OK for nothing? Of course this has led us to made-up-news as a low cost alternative to real researched journalism, and so on. Somehow, I hope, we find ways to maintain (pay) those who create thoughtful art - in particular music. No matter how fast Lang Lang plays, he can't play all the repetoire in all places live at all times (well, if he played that fast - it would become ultrasonic piano, and probably not enjoyable). Having communities sponsor artists-in-residence, creating recording labels who have potential a B-corp orientation and so on? Maybe also competitions where performances and not people are awarded? Rather than best pianist, how about which performed piece moved us the most or had the most unique interpretation? Perhaps some places like Germany already have more of this, while other places far less. I love your playing - so its great to see you performing and recording - and not all the old war horses...
Wow!! After so many years of romanticizing the idea of possibly winning the Tchaikovsky competition in a very different alternate timeline, you've completely burst my bubble!! Your observations about piano competition culture remind me of the sort of closed-mindedness I saw during my little bit of exposure to classical music education. I have one issue with your proposed totally public voting system as a reform for result-fixing collusion amongst judges in cahoots, and that's the corrosive effect one contestant's external popularity can have, as exemplified in some seasons of "Dancing with the Stars" on US TV. The public are supposed to vote to eliminate the worst dancers, but they often vote off the people who objectively dance the best and are judged the best by the show's judges, in order to keep their favorite contestants, even if they dance the worst, especially if they're popular political figures or beloved TV or movie stars outside the competition. There would need to be some safeguard against that kind of mass-voting corruption in an open-voting system. I think you're right about the whole thing becoming less and less relevant as time goes on, just like record deals in pop music in this era of social media and Spotify. Excellent video, Anna!!
Hardly any of the public even listens to real musicians. Juilliard graduates can literally starve while some pop stars who do not even read music get wealthy. I knew a fellow that was a gifted pianist who wound up traveling on the road and working for almost nothing. He burned out and became a postal worker.
I'm mostly familiar with the International Chopin Competition in Poland. The problem is the most Chopin like pianists like "Cateen" are eliminated. There is no compositional or improvisational component in the competition. The winner is generally the best trained parrot. Genuine creativity and unique individuality is not important.
It's subjective as she herself says, but I think it is case by case, jury by jury. My favorite at the Van Cliburn was eliminated in the semifinals, my two favorites at the Leeds competition both got eliminated before the finals. But other times, the greatest pianists like Rafal Blechacz, Daniil Trifonov, Seong Jin Cho, do actually win 1st prize. Do you feel Alexander Kantorow wasn't the most creative and unique player when he won the Tchaikovsky? etc. So there are actually very many examples of the best and most vibrant pianist winning. Also your point about compositional or improvisational component is normal - it's a piano playing competition, not a composing competition. Composers have their own competitions: competing for grants offered by governments/arts foundations fund (like the Macarthur or Albright genius fellowships in the US).
Hopefully not too tangential a view from a 74 year man from an initially materially and culturally limited background who owes a lifetime of happiness to playing music and adoring it. Envying my teachers for their natural talent and achievement I am saddened that so many of them really derive very little joy from music. It's as if they had been pushed into great self-belief, incredible hard work and perhaps become mechanics with little admiration for their art. By their standards/mentality, failure is inevitable, and cynicism fills the vacuum. Meanwhile the tortoise here can't keep away from his love affair with music. In bed at night I know what I will play the following morning. Not unrelated, I enjoy middle distance running and am fortunate to live by the sea and run every morning and still participate in events. Again I see people who had great enthusiasm, went overboard on the training, and after a few years were either damaged or totally disinterested. I can't conclude for other people but I know my mediocrity (and acceptance of it) was what nurtured a brilliant life.
Hello from Brazil, Ana! I studied piano from the age of 5, first in Uzbekistan (where my Russian parents worked on construction sites for the Soviet government), then in Moscow. In total, I studied for 17 years in institutions specializing in music education. At the age of 20, I emigrated to São Paulo because I got a job as an orchestra pianist, where the pay was very good. I worked there for 24 years doing everything - accompanying singers, all solo instrumentalists, playing piano and celesta in the orchestra. It was, let's be honest, a job far from my dreams, which is to play repertoire written for piano. I resigned from the orchestra this year and only now, at the age of 45, can I dedicate myself to studying the piano repertoire again. Everything you said about competitions is true. I agree with that and I'll say more: music competitions should be banned by universal law. You didn't mention the reality of the agencies that manage the artistic lives of soloists - these organizations determine the agendas of the winners of competitions. Not all, but some of them can be corrupt, and in their hands are the lives of musicians, who are mere hostages of the agents. It can be a disgusting reality, full of games and politics. I once participated in an international competition that was completely corrupt, in which my name was tarnished because of a member of the jury, who threatened me, asking me to withdraw my candidacy from the list of approved candidates. The name of this pianist is Ilan Rechtman and his name is tainted by involvement in many scandals. He tarnished my name for no reason, without me having done anything wrong in the admission process. I was 25 years old at the time. Today I live a life completely without any envolvement with piano society and I am not part of any educational institution. I earn my living giving private lessons and with part of this money I pay for my studio recordings, playing the music I love. When I receive invitations to play in front of orchestras, it is because of the recognition of my work alone, without involving any intermediary and without any corruption. Conductors call me and invite me because they think I am worthy of playing with an orchestra. I have no intention of ever joining any corrupt group and prefer to stay out of the loop, maintaining my integrity. Music is not about competition. Music should serve to bring beauty to this fallen and sad world.
Как Вы правы...
Thanks for sharing your story, Olga and I’m happy to hear that you found your way in music without competitions!
Thank you for sharing this poignant journey you have been on. I’m glad you have worked it out so that you’re now playing the music you love the way you want to play it good for you best wishes.❤
Unfortunately, none of this is surprising, but it's great to hear it from someone who is speaking from experience and knowledge from others involved. Good to see you again!
The point about having a jury made up mainly of pianists is that - hopefully - they will have a good chance of being very familiar with pieces played, their difficulties and be in a better position to judge how 'well' it was played rather than a less knowledgeable public who are far more likely to be judging whether they liked the piece of music played rather than how well it was played.
@@adrianwright8685 I didn’t mean the jury should be made from public. I meant that the jury’s points should be announced publicly. Usually we don’t know who voted how.
@@AnnaKhomichkoPianist Ok understood. Now jury members in most competitions vote independently - indeed are forbidden from discussing competitors - I suspect that the votes are fairly evenly spread around with the winner not being significantly above the rest.
Stephen Hough in a video that I now can't find, was a judge - for the Van Cliburn I think it was - and he said that in voting for the final 6 from the current 12, he was pleased to see he'd voted for 3 of the chosen 6. Of course if you set some monkeys to pick 6 from 12 then the average monkey would get 3 of the chosen 6!! I think it might be embarrassing to reveal how little correlation there is in the votes of jury members.
@@adrianwright8685I guess that just shows how subjective these things are, which then in my opinion devalue the whole idea of having a competition 'winner'.
Thank you, Anna, for your well-thought-out video. I enjoyed hearing you discuss these important aspects of competitions. Ultimately, the most important “competition” is the one within ourselves, striving to improve and do our best.
Аня, спасибо большое! Это очень важно, что ты говоришь. Очень смело и нужно! ❤
This video is very interesting, and show the reality about the artist life. I remember your performance on a piano competition are available on your Patreon. It reminds me the video about "The dark side of the pianist life". Thank you for your music and concerts.
If you go to a competition because you want to play in a beautiful hall on an excellent instrument , and make friends for life - go ! If you are “ planning “ to win it - you are bound to be disappointed.
Thank you so much for sharing your insight! I'm an amateur musician who was asked numerous times as a teen if I was going pro. Even at that age I could see that in the musical world, skill was secondary to politics. In more recent years I've noticed many musicians, even professionals, are deeply insecure about their work and I suspect part of this is because they know no matter how successful they have been, there are others equally talented who didn't achieve the same level of success because of factors outside their control - even if their opportunities were ample and prominent. I really appreciate having my suspicions confirmed by someone successful in the industry. And for what it's worth, your playing is downright majestic.
Thanks for sharing this, Anna!
Thanks for watching Aurelia, hope you’re well :)
Очень большой вопрос поднят. Но мы все должны молчать. Все знают, все молчат, иначе только пикнет кто-то - и пожалеет. К сожалению, так.
BRAVO!!!
Hi, Anna. Thanks for your honest and interesting insights. I don’t know anything about the ins and outs of professional musicianship, I’m just a music lover, but I’ve always been skeptical of competitions, and suspected it was mainly a high-pressure money game. Music shouldn’t be reduced to this. Your suggestions at the end seem to me to be on the right track.
Tough but fair truths, Anna! Thanks for speaking out!
I have been a juror in competitions (not music - Public Speaking!), and know too well what's going on behind the scenes. Only so much, it matches with what you expose here.
Now musically speaking:
1) None of my three very top favorite contemporary pianists won a major competition. The first one, because her teacher didn't allow her to waste her time in that; she was already a [meteoric!] rising star. The second won third prize in a major prestigious competition- but by public acclaim, not from the jury. The third one never made it ever to any semifinals, although I consider her a top of the line pianist, at the same level as the first two. [Just for the records, all three are young ladies].
2) The other way round, I watched three very prestigious competitions online, and none of my favorites, whose interpretations I liked best, made it to the semifinals in any of those. The winners, in all honesty, left me 'cold'.
On the positive side, two major prestigious competitions have changed their approach somewhat in 1) Changing more to a Music Festival than a pure competition format, and 2) 'spreading' the prize winners, and inviting back even "lower tier" winners to their concerts and events- showing that winning or losing first place is not a matter of life or death for a young competing musician's career as it used to be.
But until young musicians get a fairer deal in such events, still a lot of water will have to flow down the river....
[Names not named to avoid controversy, and although I have 50 years experience as a musician, I am not a professional pianist]
@@andresgunther 🙏☺️
I think Bartok was right when he said: 'Competitions are for horses, not for artists.'
@GivernyLourens But of course there is the grand wise you who knows how to do it, however is very shy about telling what knowledge and professional expertise he/she has.
My thoughts absolutely!
Do you feel that competitions lead to a uniform “correct” interpretation and discourage individuality in the few standard pieces? (For example in tempo)
@@henrikmulders8633 often, yes
An example: in Russia a child-violinist, taking anything by Bach or Tchaikovsky Valse-Scheerzo, is risking to be literally disqualified, apparently because these pieces are "for mature people with life experience" - however European competitions routinely put those pieces into the compulsory repertoir pieces for age groups 10-11, 12--15.
@@MishaSkripachwhat nutshell of a summary on the issue! Thanks,
Vielen Dank für diese Einsichten. Als gewöhnlicher Musikliebhaber bekommt man das nicht mit. Ich wünsche Ihnen viel Kraft.
I'm not sure what exactly happend during the 2010 Chopin Competition, I think I read somewhere that they changed the rules in the middle of the competition, and Ingolf Wunder who was the favorite to win the competition, was pushed down to second place.
i like her . she very pretty 😍
To my dearest most precious Anna...you said some absolutely brilliant things here...and...I have something to add.
All competition, competitions...in the world...should be stopped...immediately.
There is absolutely, absolutely...no love...in trying to be better than someone else.
We are all equal...different, but equal.
It is absolutely, absolutely impossible...to love someone...and also try to beat them in competition...absolutely impossible.
Thank you for the video...and...I love you,
Stanley ❤
The nature of our very "winner" oriented society always has us searching for competion for something "limited". On the otherhand, tech and social trends also drives a type of "lowest cost for massive amounts" behavior - why pay when you can get something OK for nothing? Of course this has led us to made-up-news as a low cost alternative to real researched journalism, and so on.
Somehow, I hope, we find ways to maintain (pay) those who create thoughtful art - in particular music. No matter how fast Lang Lang plays, he can't play all the repetoire in all places live at all times (well, if he played that fast - it would become ultrasonic piano, and probably not enjoyable).
Having communities sponsor artists-in-residence, creating recording labels who have potential a B-corp orientation and so on? Maybe also competitions where performances and not people are awarded? Rather than best pianist, how about which performed piece moved us the most or had the most unique interpretation? Perhaps some places like Germany already have more of this, while other places far less.
I love your playing - so its great to see you performing and recording - and not all the old war horses...
Wise words! Yes, we definitely need some “updated” versions of competitions - if at all.
thx for sharing the truth.
Wow!! After so many years of romanticizing the idea of possibly winning the Tchaikovsky competition in a very different alternate timeline, you've completely burst my bubble!! Your observations about piano competition culture remind me of the sort of closed-mindedness I saw during my little bit of exposure to classical music education. I have one issue with your proposed totally public voting system as a reform for result-fixing collusion amongst judges in cahoots, and that's the corrosive effect one contestant's external popularity can have, as exemplified in some seasons of "Dancing with the Stars" on US TV. The public are supposed to vote to eliminate the worst dancers, but they often vote off the people who objectively dance the best and are judged the best by the show's judges, in order to keep their favorite contestants, even if they dance the worst, especially if they're popular political figures or beloved TV or movie stars outside the competition. There would need to be some safeguard against that kind of mass-voting corruption in an open-voting system. I think you're right about the whole thing becoming less and less relevant as time goes on, just like record deals in pop music in this era of social media and Spotify. Excellent video, Anna!!
Hardly any of the public even listens to real musicians. Juilliard graduates can literally starve while some pop stars who do not even read music get wealthy. I knew a fellow that was a gifted pianist who wound up traveling on the road and working for almost nothing. He burned out and became a postal worker.
I'm mostly familiar with the International Chopin Competition in Poland. The problem is the most Chopin like pianists like "Cateen" are eliminated. There is no compositional or improvisational component in the competition. The winner is generally the best trained parrot. Genuine creativity and unique individuality is not important.
It's subjective as she herself says, but I think it is case by case, jury by jury. My favorite at the Van Cliburn was eliminated in the semifinals, my two favorites at the Leeds competition both got eliminated before the finals. But other times, the greatest pianists like Rafal Blechacz, Daniil Trifonov, Seong Jin Cho, do actually win 1st prize. Do you feel Alexander Kantorow wasn't the most creative and unique player when he won the Tchaikovsky? etc. So there are actually very many examples of the best and most vibrant pianist winning.
Also your point about compositional or improvisational component is normal - it's a piano playing competition, not a composing competition. Composers have their own competitions: competing for grants offered by governments/arts foundations fund (like the Macarthur or Albright genius fellowships in the US).
Honestly I don’t get why people need music to be a competition maybe im crazy.
You’re actually sane unlike the music industry these days 😂
На конкурсах может происходить что угодно, потому что сами участники и их родители боятся открыть рот.
@GivernyLourens Thank you. Because I am totally not interested in what you have to say.
Hopefully not too tangential a view from a 74 year man from an initially materially and culturally limited background who owes a lifetime of happiness to playing music and adoring it. Envying my teachers for their natural talent and achievement I am saddened that so many of them really derive very little joy from music. It's as if they had been pushed into great self-belief, incredible hard work and perhaps become mechanics with little admiration for their art. By their standards/mentality, failure is inevitable, and cynicism fills the vacuum. Meanwhile the tortoise here can't keep away from his love affair with music. In bed at night I know what I will play the following morning. Not unrelated, I enjoy middle distance running and am fortunate to live by the sea and run every morning and still participate in events. Again I see people who had great enthusiasm, went overboard on the training, and after a few years were either damaged or totally disinterested. I can't conclude for other people but I know my mediocrity (and acceptance of it) was what nurtured a brilliant life.
Controversial topic, music competitions are dubious.