The sixth NTD International Piano Competition concluded after the Future Stars Concert & Award Ceremony held at the Merkin Concert Hall - Kaufman Music Center in New York City on Nov. 2, 2022.
Pianists from more than 20 countries across four continents met in united effort to revive the glory of classical music. Thirteen made it to the semi-finals and six advanced as finalists. Preliminaries took place on Oct. 29 and 30, semifinals on Oct. 31, and finals on Nov. 1.
Events were livestreamed for the semifinals, finals, and Futures Stars Concert & Awards Ceremony. Pianists appearing at the Futures Stars Concert included this year’s six finalists, as well as the 2014 Competition Gold Award winner, Timur Mustakimov, along with renowned Professor Mikhail Voskresensky, and Russian concert pianist Vassily Primakov.
This International Piano Competition is one in a series of international cultural and arts events hosted by the NTD Television. Its mission is to promote traditional arts of pure goodness, authenticity, and beauty, while reviving the glory of piano masterpieces from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods.
The competition’s commitment to artistic excellence is a means to allow the 250-year legacy of piano literature to continue to flourish and be passed on to the future generations.
Winners were announced at the Award Ceremony: Antonii Baryshevskyi from Ukraine won the Gold Award; Jiusi Zhang from China won the Silver Award; and Evangeliya Delizonas-Khukhua from Russia won the Bronze Award. Jiusi Zhang also won the Best Rendition Award of the Commissioned Composition.
Since 2016, the competition has commissioned a piano arrangement of a piece by D.F., the artistic director of Shen Yun Performing Arts, a world-renowned music and dance company that has led the way in the revival of traditional Chinese culture through the arts.
The 2022 commissioned piece, “The Sacred Journey,” was arranged by Qin Yuan, a composer and piano accompanist with Shen Yun. Ms. Yuan is a prolific composer with notable expertise in delivering the melodies and rhythms of ancient Chinese music through the language of classical music as it was established in the West.
The Commissioned Composition Inspires With Truth and Hope
Gold Award winner Antonii Baryshevskyi is a prominent Ukrainian pianist and prize-winner of numerous international piano competitions, some of which include the Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, “Premio Jaen,” and F. Busoni International Piano Competition. He studied and graduated from the National Music Academy of Ukraine and École Normale de Musique de Paris.Mr. Baryshevskyi shared that he participated in this competition because it required contestants to only select masterpieces from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods. “The biggest problem of our time is that classical music is almost gone. It’s somewhere on the shadows of society. ... I think the big difference between pop culture and classical culture is that classical culture gives a lot of senses, a lot of ideas, a lot of deepness. That’s why I think it’s important to catch these, to keep this, and to work on it as much as possible because we are like ambassadors of this great, great music. Great, great culture,” he said.
He thought the commissioned piece, “The Sacred Journey,” delivered a kind of truth and was capable of raising hope in people. “I think it’s very important for us to be on the side of goodness. And I really appreciate that. To give the truth to people against all the lie[s] that come from the world, ... I think it’s very important that we gather together on the side of truth,” he said.
Mr. Baryshevskyi also played Schumann’s Symphonic Etudes at the competition.
The Jury Chair, Prof. Becky Yao, lauded Mr. Baryshevskyi’s performance, “He performed very smoothly for the preliminaries, semi-finals, and finals, and did not make any errors. He possesses master-level maturity.”
The Commissioned Composition Presents Unlimited Possibilities
Double award winner Jiusi Zhang won the Silver Award and the Best Rendition Award of the Commissioned Composition. Mr. Zhang participated in the competition at the recommendation of his maestro professor.According to Mr. Zhang, one of the most fascinating things from this competition experience was learning the commissioned work, “The Sacred Journey,” which pianists had to perform for the first time in the semi-final round.
“I’ve never learned a commissioned work like this, and in such a short period of time. I think it’s a huge challenge, no matter if you’re an experienced or inexperienced pianist. Through this piece, I learned there are many more possibilities on the piano, about the sounds that a piano can produce.”
“There are many kinds of emotions in this piece, like the Chinese ink painting. It has very rich connotations, and can’t be explained in one or two sentences. In the second half, there’s a passage that’s very lyrical, and actually very nostalgic to me. Because now I’m studying in the United States, and before, I never left my home for such a long time. When I learned this piece, it said something special to me,” said Mr. Zhang, who is originally from China.
Renowned Pianist Applauds NIPC’s Mission in Reviving Classical Music
Mr. Mikhail Voskresensky from Russia is a distinguished professor at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. His students have won more than 120 international prizes. He has adjudicated in many international competitions including the Tchaikovsky competitions and chaired the Scriabin International Competition in Moscow. Prof. Voskresensky has captivated audiences with his electrifying and impassioned interpretations of great piano literature of all styles.Prof. Voskresensky gave the final performance of the Future Stars Concert and performed Mozart’s Fantasia in D minor, K. 397; Scriabin’s Deux Poemes, Op. 32; and Chopin’s Waltz in E minor, Op. Posth.
“[The] New Tang Dynasty competition is very good because it connects the thoughts about past times. Such competitions are very useful for the development of classical music, because classical music needs intelligent people. Yes, only intelligent people can have such great pleasure to understand the feelings and the thoughts which are in classical music. ... It helps us to live.
Commissioned Composition: ‘The Sacred Journey’
According to the competition’s website, “Inheriting the characteristics of the Music of Shen Yun, the commissioned composition features the perfect harmony of Eastern and Western classical music. The Western piano serves as a foundation, accentuating the distinct sound of Chinese classical music. The bedrock of soul-stirring melodies from the ancient Middle Kingdom is fully brought to life by a Western instrument, the piano. The perfect harmony of Eastern and Western classical music, this is what makes the commissioned composition unique.”Ms. Qin Yuan, a composer and the pianist who arranged this piece, shared what the commissioned composition depicted.
“This piece mainly has three parts. The first part portrays life’s origin at a very high, very beautiful realm. The second part is that people went through a lot of pain, hardships, and birth-aging-sickness-death during the process of reincarnation, and forgot why they came here. And as they are influenced and corrupted by modern notions and behaviors, many went with the tide. But some people would choose to elevate and no longer degrade. The third part is that during this kind of suffering, there will be higher-level beings coming to save people, so people would not wait in vain,” she said.
Ms. Qin Yuan felt during the composition that both Eastern and Western cultures believe that humans were created by the divine. She thought that during the present troubled times, if people can hold onto their inner justice and kindness, and restore their respect for the divine, it can return people’s hearts and bring them hope.
“What we compose uses the flavor of traditional Chinese music as the base melody, and combine it with those in classical Western music: traditional harmonies, musical forms, including many techniques in arranging concepts, and including techniques of polyphony (composing techniques of counterpoint and sound method). In fact, these should be comprehensible to both Eastern and Western contestants.
“Shen Yun’s music has a composing concept of combining the East and West. This has been very clearly demonstrated through Shen Yun Performing Arts’ program each year. Whether it’s in mainland China or other countries, many composers have tried (to blend Eastern and Western music). No one has actually achieved an international level or been this successful. But Shen Yun has now achieved this,” she said.
Ms. Qin Yuan hopes that this piece would guide the contestants to think about more the divine meaning of life.
Contestant Carolina Danise from Italy said, “I was feeling somehow a bit holy. I actually was not feeling anymore a pianist, but a musician, like a very inspired musician.”
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