For the first time in the history of this competition, all of the auditions – or the eliminations, which will begin on Monday 13th April – and the October finale will be available to follow live with a Chopin Competition application.
– announced the director of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, Artur Szklener, during a press conference on 9th April.
According to the institute, the application will share all of the performances in Full HD for mobile devices (iOS and Android), smart TV and internet browsers. After a live transmission, each of the performances will be published on the application in Video on Demand mode. Chopin admirers can go back and forth and listen to their favourite interpretations.
The application will also feature a constantly updated event calendar and a database of information about the contestants, members of the jury and Chopin’s works. The almost 90-year-long history of the competition will be illustrated with archival, often unique photographs, videos and recordings. The app will be integrated with social media, therefore it will also initiate discussions about the contest and its course.
The preliminary auditions, which will begin on Monday 13th April and will continue until 24th April, will be the best chance to try out the application and to observe 160 pianists from all over the world competing for a place in the finals.
A detailed schedule of the preliminary auditions is available
here.
Each of the contestants will present a half-hour-long recital in which they must include selected works described in the competition's rules: etudes, nocturnes, mazurkas, ballades, scherzos, optionally Fantasia in F minor, Op. 49 or Barcarole in F sharp major, Op. 60.
The pianists will be assessed by an international Preliminary Round Jury, whose members include Professor Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń (chairman), Ludmil Angelov, Akiko Ebi, Adam Harasiewicz, Yves Henry, Andrzej Jasiński, Ivan Klanskě, Anna Malikova, Alberto Nosc, Piotr Paleczny, Ewa Pobłocka, Marta Sosińska, Wojciech Świtała and Dina Yoffe.
Only 80 contestants will qualify for the October finale of the competition. 73 will be selected via the eliminations. The remaining 7 laureates are winners of the two top prizes of selected piano competitions, who, according to the competition’s rules, “may be accepted to the competition without having to participate in the Preliminary Round”. These include Dinara Klinton from Ukraine, Nozomi Nakagiri from Japan, Rachel Naomi Kudo and Eric Lu from the U.S. and the three laureates of the Polish Chopin Piano Competition: Andrzej Wierciński, Rafał Krupiński and Krzysztof Książek.
The list of candidates admitted to the main competition will be made public by an announcement placed on the institute’s website no later than 25 April 2015.
The competition’s official website: www.chopincompetition2015.com
Live transmission will be also available on Chopin Institute’s YouTube channel.
Source: PAP, konkurs.chopin.pl, edit. KK, transl. Agata Dudek, 10/04/15.