Concours Recent

Concours Recent

TONHALLE-ORCHESTER ZÜRICH

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Copyright: Tonhalle-Orchester / Priska Ketterer

Following the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the Tonhalle Society Zurich over the past two seasons, which also featured numerous world premières and staged performances, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich will begin a new chapter of the orchestra’s history as of the 2019/20 season together with Chief Conductor and Music Director Paavo Järvi. David Zinman directed the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich until the 2013/14 season and is now its Conductor Laureate; Lionel Bringuier was Chief Conductor until the 2017/18 season. A successful tour of Asia with Paavo Järvi in the autumn of 2018 was followed by live recordings for the first CD, with orchestral works by Olivier Messiaen. Recordings of all the Tchaikovsky symphonies are planned for the 2019/20 season, complementing the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich’s more than 40 CD productions. These include complete recordings of all the Beethoven, Mahler, Brahms and Schubert symphonies, as well as Ravel and anniversary box sets. Consisting of just over 100 musicians from 20 nations, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich performs 50 different programmes at more than 100 concerts every season. These are supplemented by guest appearances in more than 70 cities in 16 countries to date. The orchestra’s principal players can be heard in the TOZ Soloists series. Both at home and on tour, the ensemble performs with renowned soloists such as Janine Jansen, Martin Grubinger, Joshua Bell, Rudolf Buchbinder, Julia Fischer, Gautier Capuçon, Yuja Wang, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Lisa Batiashvili and Sabine Meyer. The orchestra maintains close links with guest conductors such as Franz Welser-Möst, Bernard Haitink, Herbert Blomstedt, Manfred Honeck, Krzysztof Urbański, Jakub Hrůša, Kent Nagano, Giovanni Antonini and Jan Willem de Vriend.The orchestra has played at the Tonhalle Maag since the beginning of the 2017/18 season. The 2020/21 season will be the last of four during which the ensemble has performed in Zurich’s 5th District before it moves back to the renovated Tonhalle concert hall on the shores of Lake Zurich.

GERGELY MADARAS

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Gergely Madaras has been Music Director of Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège since 2019. He regularly appears as a guest conductor with orchestras including the BBC Symphony, BBC Philharmonic and BBC Scottish Symphony, Hallé, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre National de Lyon, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestra Nazionale della RAI, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Hungarian National Philharmonic and Hungarian Radio orchestras, the Copenhagen, Oslo, Bergen and Luxembourg Philharmonic orchestras as well as with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Münchener Kammerorchester and Academy of Ancient Music. As an opera conductor he has appeared at the English National Opera, Dutch National Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève and Hungarian State Opera. While his repertoire is rooted in the classical and romantic periods, he maintains a close relationship with new music. He collaborated with composers George Benjamin, Péter Eötvös, György Kurtág, Tristan Murail, Luca Francesconi, Philippe Boesmans and Pierre Boulez.

REPERTOIRE LIST AND COMPULSORY PIECES FOR THE FINAL CONCERT

B. Bartók

Piano Concerto No. 1 (Sz 83/BB 91)
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Sz 95/BB 101)
Piano Concerto No. 3 (Sz 119/BB 127)

L. van Beethoven

Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major op. 58
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major op. 73

When registering for the Concours on 26 May, the candidates will notify the Concours Office about the cadenzas they would like to play in the Final (if they have chosen a Beethoven concerto). If they wish to play rarely performed or their own cadenzas, the candidates must give the Concours Office the music for them.

F. Liszt

Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major S. 124
Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major S. 125

The piano concertos by Liszt must be combined with one of the following compulsory works:

F. Liszt
Totentanz S. 126

or

F. Liszt
Fantasia on Hungarian Folk Melodies for piano and orchestra S. 123

or

E. von Dohnányi
Variations on a Nursery Tune in C major, op. 25, for piano and orchestra (1914)

MUSIKKOLLEGIUM WINTERTHUR

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Copyright: Musikkollegium Winterthur / Priska Ketterer

The Musikkollegium Winterthur occupies a prominent position in Europe’s cultural landscape. The orchestra’s long history, which dates to 1629, has clearly left its mark: the commitment of bourgeois families in the 18th century is continued today by the numerous members of the association. The Stadthaus concert hall designed by Gottfried Semper dates from the 19th century and was inaugurated in the same year as Vienna’s Musikverein. The early 20th century was a particularly important time for Winterthur. Patron of the arts Werner Reinhart, together with conductor Hermann Scherchen, transformed the city into a centre of European musical life during this period. Igor Stravinsky, Richard Strauss and Anton Webern maintained links with the city, as did Clara Haskil and Wilhelm Furtwängler. Such a legacy entails obligations: no other classical symphony orchestra in Switzerland is as naturally committed to the modern classical repertoire as the Musikkollegium Winterthur. The ensemble also gives world première performances, most recently of works by composers such as Richard Dubugnon, Johannes Maria Staud and David Philip Hefti. The orchestra’s other repertoire focuses on the classical and early romantic periods. With more than 40 seasonal concerts as well as foreign tours and an award-winning musical education programme, the orchestra is an outstanding institution. Many personalities have contributed to the excellent quality of the ensemble: not only former chief conductors such as Franz Welser-Möst, Heinrich Schiff and Thomas Zehetmair, but also internationally sought-after soloists – who always return to Winterthur with pleasure. The Musikkollegium Winterthur is now launching the 2021/22 season under its promising young Chief Conductor, Roberto González-Monjas.

STEFAN BLUNIER

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Swiss conductor Stefan Blunier studied the piano, horn, composition and conducting in his Swiss hometown of Berne and at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen, Germany. After first engagements at the local opera houses in Mainz, Augsburg and Mannheim, as well as with the Belgian National Orchestra, he became Music Director at the Darmstadt State Theatre. From 2008 to 2016 he served as Music Director at Opera Bonn, and simultaneously – from 2010 to 2013 – as principal guest conductor of the Belgian National Orchestra. Further engagements in the field of opera took him to Geneva, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Oslo and, as a regular guest conductor, Deutsche Oper Berlin. Apart from his work at opera houses, he has conducted concerts at numerous venues around the world, including Tokyo, Taiwan, Frankfurt, Porto, Leeds, Stuttgart, Bratislava, Budapest, Malmö, São Paulo and Belgium. In 2021 Stefan Blunier becomes chief conductor of the Orquestra Sinfónica do Porto Casa da Música, Portugal.

REPERTOIRE LIST FOR THE MOZART SEMI-FINAL WITH ORCHESTRA

W. A. Mozart

Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat major, K. 271 (Jeunehomme)
Piano Concerto No. 20 in d minor, K. 466
Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K. 503
Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat major, K. 595

When registering for the Concours on 26 May, the candidates will notify the Concours Office about the cadenzas they would like to play in the Mozart Semifinal. If they wish to play rarely performed or their own cadenzas, the candidates must give the Concours Office the music for them.

REPERTOIRE LIST FOR THE Recital

W. A. Mozart

Sonata No. 11 in A major K. 331
Variations in G major on “Unser dummer Pöbel meint” K. 455
Sonata No. 14 in c minor K. 457
Sonata No. 17 in B-flat major K. 570
Sonata No. 18 in D major K. 576
Rondo in a minor K. 511

L. van Beethoven

Sonata No. 7 in D major op. 10,3
Sonata No. 14 in c-sharp minor op. 27,2 “Moonlight”
Sonata No. 17 in d minor op. 31,2 “The Tempest”
Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major op. 110

F. Schubert

Sonata No. 13 in A major D 664
Four Impromptus op. 90 D 899
Sonata No. 21 in B-flat major op. posth. D 960

R. Schumann

Davidsbündlertänze op. 6
Carnaval op. 9
Kreisleriana op. 16
Fantasy in C major op. 17

J. Brahms

Sonata No. 3 in f minor op. 5
Variations on a theme of Paganini op. 35 (both volumes)
Three Intermezzi op. 117
Four Piano Pieces op. 119

F. Chopin

Ballade No. 1 in g minor op. 23

Etude op. 10, No. 1, C major
Etude op. 10, No. 2, a minor
Etude op. 10, No. 4, c-sharp minor
Etude op. 10, No. 5, G-flat major
Etude op. 10, No. 7, C major
Etude op. 10, No. 8, F major
Etude op. 10, No. 9, f minor
Etude op. 10, No. 10, A-flat major
Etude op. 10, No. 11, E-flat major
Etude op. 10, No. 12, c minor

Etude op. 25, No. 1, A-flat major
Etude op. 25, No. 2, f minor
Etude op. 25, No. 3, F major
Etude op. 25, No. 4, a minor
Etude op. 25, No. 5, e minor
Etude op. 25, No. 6, g-sharp minor
Etude op. 25, No. 8, D-flat major
Etude op. 25, No. 9, G-flat major
Etude op. 25, No. 10, b minor
Etude op. 25, No. 11, a minor
Etude op. 25, No. 12, c minor

Mazurka in a minor op. 67,4
Mazurka in a minor op. 68,2

Polonaise No. 1 in c-sharp minor op. 26, 1
Polonaise No. 5 in f-sharp minor op. 44
Polonaise No. 6 in A-flat major op. 53
Polonaise No. 7 in A-flat major op. 61 (Polonaise-Fantasy)

Sonata No. 2 b-flat minor op. 35

F. Liszt

Études d’exécution transcendante S. 139
No. 11 “Harmonies du soir”

Grandes Études de Paganini S. 141 (rev. version, 1851)
No. 3 “La Campanella”
No. 5 “La Chasse”

Trois Études de concert S. 144
No. 2 “La leggierezza”
No. 3 “Un sospiro”

Études de concert S. 145
No. 1 “Forest murmurs”
No. 2 “Dance of the gnomes”

Mephisto Waltz No. 1, S. 514 (also permissible in the version by Ferruccio Busoni)

Sonata in b minor S. 178

C. Debussy

Pour le piano L. 95
Feux d’Artifice [Préludes volume 2, No. 12] L. 123

M. Ravel

Jeux d’eau M. 30
Valses nobles et sentimentales M. 61

B. Bartók

Three Burlesques, op. 8c, Sz 47/BB 55
Suite op. 14, Sz 62/BB 70
Sonata Sz 80/BB 88

When registering for the Concours on 26 May, the candidates will give the Concours Office the music for the brief piece (the “encore”) that they would like to play in the 3rd part of their Recital (2nd Round).

REPERTOIRE LIST FOR THE AUDITION

J. S. Bach

Partita No. 1 in B-flat major BWV 825
Partita No. 2 in c minor BWV 826
Partita No. 3 in a minor BWV 827
Partita No. 4 in D major BWV 828
Partita No. 5 in G major BWV 829
Partita No. 6 in e minor BWV 830

D. Scarlatti

Sonata in d minor K 1 (L. 366)
Sonata in b minor K 27 (L. 449)
Sonata in G major K 55 (L. 335)
Sonata in A major K 113 (L. 345)
Sonata in d minor K 141 (L. 442)
Sonata in A major K 182 (L. 139)
Sonata in E major K 380 (L. 23)

W. A. Mozart

Sonata No. 11 in A major K. 331
Sonata No. 14 in c minor K. 457
Sonata No. 17 in B-flat major K. 570
Sonata No. 18 in D major K. 576

L. van Beethoven

Sonata No. 7 in D major op. 10,3
Sonata No. 14 in c-sharp minor op. 27,2 “Moonlight”
Sonata No. 17 in d minor op. 31,2 “The Tempest”
Sonata No. 31 in A-flat major op. 110

F. Chopin

Etude op. 10, No. 1, C major
Etude op. 10, No. 2, a minor
Etude op. 10, No. 4, c-sharp minor
Etude op. 10, No. 5, G-flat major
Etude op. 10, No. 7, C major
Etude op. 10, No. 8, F major
Etude op. 10, No. 9, f minor
Etude op. 10, No. 10, A-flat major
Etude op. 10, No. 11, E-flat major
Etude op. 10, No. 12, c minor

Etude op. 25, No. 1, A-flat major
Etude op. 25, No. 2, f minor
Etude op. 25, No. 3, F major
Etude op. 25, No. 4, a minor
Etude op. 25, No. 5, e minor
Etude op. 25, No. 6, g-sharp minor
Etude op. 25, No. 8, D-flat major
Etude op. 25, No. 9, G-flat major
Etude op. 25, No. 10, b minor
Etude op. 25, No. 11, a minor
Etude op. 25, No. 12, c minor

F. Liszt

Études d’exécution transcendante S. 139
No. 11 “Harmonies du soir”

Grandes Études de Paganini S. 141 (rev. version, 1851)
No. 3 “La Campanella”
No. 5 “La Chasse”

Trois Études de concert S. 144
No. 2 “La leggierezza”
No. 3 “Un sospiro”

Études de concert S. 145
No. 1 “Forest murmurs”
No. 2 “Dance of the gnomes”

Program

The Competition

2021 marks the year of Géza Anda’s 100th birthday and the 15th edition of the International Piano Competition.
The schedule and essential information on the Concours Géza Anda in 2021 can be found here.

Replay
Timeline

The participants are registered and lots are drawn to determine the order in which they will play in the Audition (1st Round) and the Recital (2nd Round). The playing order that is thus determined remains identical for both rounds.

The participants admitted to the Audition (1st Round) each play for ca 25 minutes. Their programme must comprise works by Bach or Scarlatti, Mozart or Beethoven, and Chopin or Liszt taken from the “Repertoire list for the Audition (1st Round)” and specified in their online application.

When making their online application, candidates must choose for the 1st part of the Audition (1st Round) either two Scarlatti sonatas or two Bach partitas or one Scarlatti sonata and one Bach partita, all from the “Repertoire list for the Audition (1st Round)”; for the 2nd part of the Audition (1st Round), they must choose either two Mozart sonatas or two Beethoven sonatas, or one sonata each by Mozart and Beethoven; and for the 3rd part of the Audition (1st Round), candidates must choose either two Chopin etudes, two Liszt etudes, or one etude each by Chopin and Liszt, all from the “Repertoire list for the Audition (1st Round)”.

The Jury will decide on the evening before each day of the Audition (1st Round) – thus on the evening of either 26, 27 or 28 May – which of the works they would like to hear from the list submitted by the participants with their online application. The Jury will choose one Scarlatti sonata or one movement from one Bach partita, one Mozart sonata or one Beethoven sonata, and one etude by Chopin or one etude by Liszt.

During the Audition (1st Round), the Jury may interrupt or halt the performance of any work.

Works that were already played on the video recording (either in part or in full) for the online application may not be played again in the Audition (1st Round).

On the evening of 29 May 2021, on the website www.geza-anda.ch, the Jury will announce the names of those who are being admitted to the Recital (2nd Round).

REPERTOIRE LIST FOR THE AUDITION (1ST ROUND)

The Jury will discuss the recital programme together with each participant admitted to the Recital (2nd Round). This programme must last ca 55 minutes and in principle will comprise the following parts:

a) one of three complete sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms or Bartók, taken from the “Repertoire list for the Recital (2nd Round)” and specified in their online application;
b) one or several further works (except sonatas) selected from the “Repertoire list for the Recital (2nd Round)” and specified in their online application;
c) one brief supplementary piece of the participant’s own choice, also specified in their online application (an “encore”).

Works that were already played on the video recording (either in part or in full) that was submitted with the online application may not be played again in the Recital (2nd Round).

Works that have already been played either in part or in full in the Audition (1st Round) may also not be played in the Recital (2nd Round).

The Jury will inform the participants behind closed doors as to which of them will be admitted to the Mozart Semi-Final with orchestra. This will be done by means of a letter handed over to the participants on the stage of the MKZ after the last session of the Recital (2nd Round).

REPERTOIRE LIST FOR THE RECITAL (2ND ROUND)

The participants will play a piano concerto by Mozart that they selected from the “Repertoire list for the Mozart Semi-Final” and specified in their online application.

The participants will be accompanied by the Musikkollegium Winterthur, conducted by Stefan Blunier.

The rehearsal and performance times of the participants will be determined by the conductor, in consultation with the Chairman of the Jury.

On 3 June, the Jury will announce the results after the 2nd part of the Mozart Semi-Final, and will then present the semi-finalists with their certificate. This will be done behind closed doors.

In consultation with the finalists themselves, the Jury will decide on the individual works to be performed at the Final Concert (Final Round), as well as the order of rehearsals and of the Final Concert (Final Round) itself.

REPERTOIRE LIST FOR THE MOZART SEMI-FINAL WITH ORCHESTRA
STEFAN BLUNIER
MUSIKKOLLEGIUM WINTERTHUR

The Final Concert (Final Round) will be accompanied by the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, conducted by Gergely Madaras.

When submitting their online application, the participants will choose two piano concertos from different groups on the “Repertoire list and compulsory pieces for the Final Concert (Final Round)” (Beethoven, Bartók, Liszt).

The piano concertos by Liszt have to be combined with a further work by Liszt or Dohnányi from the “Compulsory pieces for the Final Concert (Final Round)”.

The participants must thus prepare two piano concertos by different composers for the Final Concert. If one of these works is a piano concerto by Liszt, then they must prepare three works in total.

After the Mozart Semi-Final, the Jury will decide which concertos will be played by the participants in the Final Concert.

After the deliberations of the Jury subsequent to the Final Concert, the Chairman of the Jury will announce the results of the 2021 Concours Géza Anda to the public, from the stage of the Tonhalle Maag.

The Jury is not obliged to award prizes. The decisions of the Jury are final.

REPERTOIRE LIST AND COMPULSORY PIECES FOR THE FINAL CONCERT (FINAL ROUND)
GERGELY MADARAS
TONHALLE-ORCHESTER ZÜRICH

Prizes

1

CHF 40’000.-

2

CHF 30’000.-

3

CHF 20’000.-

Special Prizes

LISZT-BARTÓK SPECIAL PRIZE

This prize rewards the candidates best interpretation of a work by F. Liszt or B. Bartók. It will consist of the sum of CHF 10,000 .- .

MOZART PRIZE OF THE MUSIKKOLLEGIUM WINTERTHUR

The Jury, in consultation with the Musikkollegium Winterthur, will award the Mozart Prize to the semi-finalist whom they consider to have given the best Mozart interpretation during the Mozart Round of the Concours Géza Anda 2021. The Mozart Prize, sponsored by the Musikkollegium Winterthur, consists of a concert accompanied by the orchestra and the sum of CHF 6,000.- .

GÉZA ANDA AUDIENCE PRIZE

This Prize rewards the finalist whose personal and musical character makes the greatest impression on the concert audience. Please note: in contrast to the awards made by the Jury – which bases its decision on all four Rounds of the Competition – the Audience Prize is awarded solely on the basis of the Final Concert in the Zurich Tonhalle on 5 June 2021. The Audience Prize is sponsored by Privatbank IHAG Zürich AG. It provides the winner with the chance to perform in a concert.

HORTENSE ANDA-BÜHRLE SPECIAL PRIZE

The Géza Anda Foundation will award the Hortense Anda-Bührle Special Prize to one of the young participants for a performance of outstanding artistic merit during the Competition. The Prize will consist of the sum of CHF 3,000.- .

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With the kind support of
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Markus Wyler
Bleicherweg 18
CH 8002 Zurich

+41 44 205 14 23
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