International Piano Festival returns to Rio de Janeiro after 5 years

The Rio de Janeiro International Piano Festival will be held from today (5) to the 11th in honor of Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire (1944-2021).

After five years, this is the second edition of the festival. The event received 35 entries from 14 countries.

The team, composed of artistic director and general coordinator Lilian Barretto, Vera Astrachan, and Olga Kopylova, has selected eight pianists from six countries for the semifinals, which will take place on September 5 and 6 at 2 p.m. in the Sala Cecília Meireles, with prizes totaling R$ 165,000 (US$31,400) at stake.

On June 6, the three pianists who will compete for first place in the competition will be announced. Tickets can be purchased at the venue box office at the usual prices: R$10 (full price) and R$5 (half price).

The eight pre-qualified pianists are Antonina Suhanova (Latvia), Hyerim Lee (South Korea), Jordan Alexander (Brazil), Noah Zhou (United Kingdom), Rafael Ruiz (Brazil), Robert Bily (Czech Republic), Xiaohui Yang (China) and Yeontaek Oh (South Korea).

The Rio de Janeiro International Piano Festival continues the BNDES International Piano Competition, which from 2009 to 2016, discovered and promoted numerous talents from Brazil and abroad.

Now, Lilian Barretto, with the support of the Vale Cultural Institute, has decided to organize a mixed event, as Agência Brasil reports.

“Not just a competition and not just a festival. This second festival has exciting features because it has all the exams and awards part of a competition. Still, it also has concerts and master classes that would be a festival. Therefore, it is much more comprehensive than we did from 2009 until now.”

TESTS

On September 10 at 7 p.m., also at the Sala Cecília Meireles, the three finalists will take the decisive tests, together with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra (OSB) conducted by Roberto Tibiriçá.

An awards ceremony will follow this.

To conclude the event, on May 11 at 5 p.m., at the same venue, the Festival’s Prizewinners Concert will take place, with the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Roberto Tibiriçá, presenting works by Camargo Guarnieri, Gluck, and a concerto for piano and orchestra. Tickets can be purchased at the box office.

The festival also offers four master classes for young Brazilian pianists, given by some of the event’s jury members, on 8 and 11. September at Espaço Guiomar Novaes, Sala Cecília Meireles and Auditorium Villa-Lobos, at the Biblioteca Brasiliana Guita and José Mindlin at the University of São Paulo (USP) in São Paulo, and from November 8 to 13 at the Faculdade de Música do Espírito Santo (Fames) in Vitória, in collaboration with the Vale Música Project.

The coordinator recalled that a festival with prizes “opens the possibility for young pianists to become known in the national and international music scene, establishes connections with teachers of prestigious music schools, and is a big incentive to improve their studies at a higher level. It is an important investment in the professional life of every musician,” he assured.

Awards
Pole Piotr Paleczny, winner of five international piano competitions, will chair the jury for this edition. He is a jury member at some of the most famous international competitions, including Warsaw, Leeds, Montreal, Moscow, Paris, Geneva, and Tokyo.

The jury is composed of Japanese Akemi Alink, Portuguese Álvaro Teixeira Lopes, Brazilians Eduardo Monteiro, Linda Bustani and Roberto Tibiriçá, and Frenchmen Marian Rybicki and Pierre Réach.

The first-place pianist will receive a cash prize of R$85 thousand, followed by R$45 thousand for the runner-up and R$20 thousand for the third-place winner. In addition, the Nelson Freire Prize for the best Brazilian pianist, worth R$10 thousand, and the Audience Award, worth R$5 thousand, will be awarded.

The winner of the OSB Prize will participate in a concert during the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra’s 2023 season. The winner of the Animato Prize will participate in a show of the festival’s finalists at the Salle Cortot in Paris during the 2022/2023 season.

TOUR

The tour began on April 16, when the International Piano Festival, in collaboration with the Amazon Music Foundation, presented award-winning Russian pianist Dmitry Shishkin at the Teatro da Paz in Belém.

He performed Chopin’s Concerto No. 1 with the Vale Music Orchestra conducted by Roberto Tibiriçá, followed by a performance on April 26 at the same venue.

This month, Ukrainian pianist Illia Ovcharenko will perform at the Sala Cecília Meireles in Rio de Janeiro on the 25th and at the Villa Lobos Auditorium of the Brazilian Library Guita and José Mindlin at the USP in São Paulo on the 28th. In October, the new generation of Brazilian pianists, Leonardo Hillsdorf, will perform in Belém (18th) and Vitória (20th).

To conclude the program, the Brazilian pianist Cristian Budu, son of Romanian parents, will perform at the Sala Cecilia Meireles in Rio de Janeiro on December 2, while the Cristian Budu – Gustavo Carvalho duo, consisting of two pianos, will play at the Palácio das Artes in Belo Horizonte on Dec. 7.

With information from Agencia Brasil