A Study of Select World-Federated International Piano Competitions: Influential Actf Ors in Performer Repertoire Choices
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The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Dissertations Summer 2020 A Study of Select World-Federated International Piano Competitions: Influential actF ors in Performer Repertoire Choices Yuan-Hung Lin Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations Part of the Music Performance Commons Recommended Citation Lin, Yuan-Hung, "A Study of Select World-Federated International Piano Competitions: Influential actF ors in Performer Repertoire Choices" (2020). Dissertations. 1799. https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/1799 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A STUDY OF SELECT WORLD-FEDERATED INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITIONS: INFLUENTIAL FACTORS IN PERFORMER REPERTOIRE CHOICES by Yuan-Hung Lin A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School, the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Music at The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts Approved by: Dr. Elizabeth Moak, Committee Chair Dr. Ellen Elder Dr. Michael Bunchman Dr. Edward Hafer Dr. Joseph Brumbeloe August 2020 COPYRIGHT BY Yuan-Hung Lin 2020 Published by the Graduate School ABSTRACT In the last ninety years, international music competitions have increased steadily. According to the 2011 Yearbook of the World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC)—founded in 1957—there were only thirteen world-federated international competitions at its founding, with at least nine competitions featuring or including piano. One of the founding competitions, the Chopin competition held in Warsaw, dates back to 1927. The number of world-federated international competitions has since increased to 122 in 2019, with a total of fifty-nine piano competitions (thirty- two dedicated solely to piano). More and more, pianists strive to participate in several competitions in order to win a competition title and its tangible benefits such as prize monies and/or additional concerts. However, there are many pianists, but few prizes. It is always a challenge for contestants to stand out from the vast number of outstanding pianists, to be noticed by the public, and to develop their career. “How will the choice of repertoire influence the competition results” or “what is the best repertoire to play in the competition” become important questions when contestants are selecting repertoire for a competition. This research is thus focused on the use of repertoire in the WFIMC piano competitions. It will explore the question whether there is a beneficial repertoire for contestants by analyzing the use of competition repertoire and comparing the choice of repertoire between different contestants. It will sample several well-known international piano competitions such as the Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition in Paris, France; the Géza Anda Competition in Zurich, Switzerland; the International Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy; and the International Telekom ii Beethoven Piano Competition Bonn in Germany. It will examine these factors: repertoire requirements of different competitions, repertoire choices offered for each round, repertoire difficulty, and choice of repertoire by the performers. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my committee chair and advisor Dr. Elizabeth Moak, without her I could not finish this degree. And I would like to show my appreciation to my committee members Dr. Edward Hafer, Dr. Joseph Brumbeloe, Dr. Ellen Elder, and Dr. Michael Bunchman for their advisement and support of my studies and research. I would like to extend a special statement of gratitude to these wonderful and talented young pianists: Alberto Ferro, Ronaldo Rolim, Daiki Kato, Bruno Vlahek, Marijan Đuzel, Takayoshi Suzuki, Daumants Liepiņš, Honggi Kim, Yeon-Min Park, Xiaoya Wan, Shiori Kuwahara, Seung-Hyuk Na, Nicolò Cafaro, Giovanni Bertolazzi, Giorgi Gigashvili, Emanuil Ivanov, Jean-Baptiste Doulcet, Wei-Ting Hsieh, Keigo Mukawa, Shotaro Nishimura, Alexander Panfilov, and Ryutaro Suzuki. Thanks for their willingness to share their experience of competitions during the very stressful time of a competition itself. And deepest appreciation to these world-leading maestros: Ewa Kupiec, Akiko Ebi, Lilya Zilberstein, Till Fellner, Nicolas Hodges, Dang Thai Son, Peter Paul Kainrath, Nathalie Wappler Hagen, Yulianna Avdeeva, and Anne Queffélec. I am sincerely grateful for their kindness in sharing their thoughts and expertise. Finally, I would like to say a special thanks to Elizabeth Slaby with the University of Southern Mississippi Writing Center for her assistance on this dissertation; and Mario Marset Ehrle with the International Student and Scholar Services of Southern Miss for his help with the German language sections of this research. iv DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my husband, Luke; my daughter, Kinchu; my parents, Agilasay and Ljigiyan; my parents-in-law, Alex and Elaine; and the big family of Pakawyan and Pavavaljun. I give all glory to God who loves me most. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 Personal Interest ...................................................................................................... 1 State of Research..................................................................................................... 2 CHAPTER II – WORLD-FEDERATED INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITIONS ............................................................................................................................................. 6 Brief History of the World Federation of International Music Competitions ........ 6 Competitions to be Sampled ................................................................................... 8 Overview of Sampled Competitions ....................................................................... 9 CHAPTER III – USE OF REPERTOIRE IN COMPETITIONS ..................................... 26 The Difficulty Level of Repertoire ....................................................................... 26 The Designation of Repertoire in Different Rounds ............................................. 30 Chamber Music ..................................................................................................... 40 Contemporary Repertoire and Commissioned Works .......................................... 42 Obligatory Piece.................................................................................................... 47 vi CHAPTER IV – CHOICE OF REPERTOIRE BY COMPETITORS AND INFLUENTIAL FACTORS IN PERFORMER REPERTOIRE CHOICES .................... 49 Performer’s Technique and Interpretive Style ...................................................... 49 Repertoire Specifications ...................................................................................... 52 The Expectation of Individual Jury Members ...................................................... 60 Well-Known and Lesser-Known Repertoire ........................................................ 65 Chart of Repertoire Choices by Competitors from Sampled Competitions ......... 68 Choice of Repertoire by Individual Contestants ................................................... 84 The Order of the Program ................................................................................... 108 CHAPTER V – CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................. 110 Competition Experience...................................................................................... 110 Selecting the “Right” Competition ..................................................................... 113 Select the “Right” Repertoire .............................................................................. 115 The Chances of Winning Competitions .............................................................. 117 Career Development After Competitions ........................................................... 119 APPENDIX A – TRANSCRIPT OF INTERVIEWS ..................................................... 123 APPENDIX B – IRB Approval Letter ............................................................................ 305 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 307 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1 WFIMC Founder Competitions ............................................................................. 6 Table 2 Repertoire Requirements of Intl. Telekom Beethoven Competition Bonn 2017 12 Table 3 Repertoire Requirements of Concours Géza Anda 2018. .................................... 16 Table 4 Contemporary Works of Busoni Competition 2018/19 ....................................... 20 Table