·The biennial international competition, organised by the Provincial Council of Valencia, will take place from 31 May to 9 June 2023, with Joaquín Achúcarro as Artistic Director
· It is open to performers of any nationality, born on or after 23 June 1987, who must submit documentation and a recording of between 20 and 30 minutes, which will be evaluated in a pre-selection phase
· Gloria Tello, councillor for the Iturbi Prize said, “This edition consolidates the prizes, which were increased by 70% on the previous edition” and encourages “pianists from all over the world to participate in this prestigious competition”
· The first prize is worth €30,000, the second €20,000 and the third €10,000. The finalists will receive €5,000 and the special prize for the best performer of Spanish music €2,000
Alexei Sichev (Russia). Author: Contra Vent i Fusta
Valencia, 14 October 2022
The Iturbi Prize, the Valencia International Piano Competition, is accepting applications until 3 November for its 22nd edition, which will take place from 31 May to 9 June 2023, under the Artistic Direction of Joaquín Achúcarro. This biennial musical event, organised by the Provincial Council of Valencia, is a benchmark in the world of piano, with performers from all five continents taking part in the 21 editions held since 1981. It was promoted by Joaquín Rodrigo (Sagunto, 1901 – Madrid, 1999).
The call for entries for the next edition, published on pianoiturbi.dival.es, is open to pianists of any nationality, born after 23 June 1987, who must submit documentation and an audiovisual recording of between 20 and 30 minutes, which will be evaluated in a pre-selection phase by a jury composed of Ana María Guijarro (Chair), Carles Marín and Ángel Sanzo (Members) and Josep Vidal (Secretary), head of the Department of Culture of the Provincial Council of Valencia. This test will be held during the month of November and the list of those admitted will be published on the website on 12 December 2022.
After the pre-selection phase, the competition will consist of three elimination rounds and the Grand Final. In the first round (recital) and in the second round (semi-final), the selected performers must choose freely from the following works: one of a contrapuntal nature, Preludes and Fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach, Preludes and Fugues by Dmitri Shostakovich, Ludus Tonalis by Paul Hindemith, Preludes and Fugues
by Felix Mendelssohn, Bach-Ferruccio Busoni, Bach-Ferenc Liszt, etc.; a sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven; a sonata by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; two short works by Fryderyk Chopin, one of which must be a nocturne; a piece from Goyescas by Enrique Granados, a piece from Suite Iberia, Navarra or La Vega by Isaac Albéniz, or the Fantasía Bética by Manuel de Falla. Participants may not repeat works during the competition.
The first round will feature the 20 performers who pass the pre-selection phase, the second round will feature 10 performers, the final will feature six, and the Grand Final will feature three. In the last two rounds, the contestants will perform alongside the Orquestra de València, the resident orchestra of the Palau de la Música. In the final, they will be able to choose one of Beethoven’s five concertos for piano and orchestra, and in the Grand Final, they will have to perform a concerto for piano and orchestra from among those designated by the organisers and by composers such as Chopin, Liszt, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Joaquín Rodrigo and Manuel Palau, among others.
The competition will continue to feature a resident composer, who this year will be Francisco Coll from Valencia, commissioned to write the work, Madre – homenaje a Joaquín Sorolla (2022), which will be compulsory for all musicians who reach the second round.
Promotion, dissemination and excellence
Gloria Tello, councillor for the Iturbi Prize, said that “this year’s Iturbi Prize consolidates the cash prizes, which were increased by 70% last year, and will continue to offer the winners recitals, concerts, tours… which will promote and disseminate their work”. The Councillor for Culture of Valencia City Council and President of the Palau de la Música, said that “we encourage pianists from all over the world to participate in this prestigious competition which, throughout its history, has served to support and promote great talents”; and she highlighted “a project which, with the Piano Festival, featuring leading national and international figures, and the Iturbi Recital Cycle, featuring the winners of the competition, raises awareness and promotes excellence”.
€30,000
The prizes remain the same as in the previous competition, with the first prize worth €30,000, the recording of an album and several recitals and concerts; the second prize is worth €20,000 and the third prize is worth €10,000. The other finalists not selected for the Grand Final will receive €4,000 and the special prize for the best performer of Spanish music will receive €2,000.
The Provincial Council of Valencia will organise concerts in Spain and abroad in 2024 for the winners of the first three prizes, and other special prizes will be awarded, financed by
sponsoring and collaborating entities and companies. The Provincial Council of Valencia will also award the contestants a grant to contribute towards their travel and living expenses.
The award ceremony will take place on 10 June 2023, during a recital in which the three pianists from the Grand Final will perform a piece chosen by the organisers from among those they have performed during the various rounds of the competition. All the performances will be broadcast live and the concerts will be replayed on the competition’s website, which will promote the dissemination and internationalisation of this musical event held every two years.
In the previous edition held in 2021, the jury, which noted the artistic quality of the competition, declared the first prize vacant and awarded the second prize to Alexei Sichev (Russia) and the third prize to Salome Jordania (Georgia) and Ryutaro Suzuki (Japan) ex aequo.
Salome Jordania (Georgia). Author: Contra Vent i Fusta
2nd Iturbi Piano Festival
The Iturbi Piano Festival returns for its second edition with a programme that will offer nine concerts from 28 October to 4 November at different venues in the city of Valencia (Palau de les Arts, Centre Cultural la Beneficència, L’Almodí and the Teatro Principal) with leading national and international pianists such as Maria João Pires, Luis Fernando Pérez, Bartomeu Jaume, Xavier Torres, Alexéi Sichev, Carlos Apellániz, Óscar Oliver, Yulianna Avdeeva, Carles Marín, Claudio Carbó, María Linares and Josep Colom, as well as conductor Manuel Hernández Silva, harpsichordist Diego Ares and fortepianist Antonio Simón, among other prestigious musicians and teachers from the Orquestra de València.
The Provincial Council of València is thus continuing a festival, under the Artistic Direction of Justo Romero, which commemorated the 125th anniversary of the birth of José Iturbi in 2020 and which will take place in even-numbered years as part of the Iturbi Competition, which will be held in odd-numbered years. This year, from 6 May to 4 November, the Iturbi Recital Cycle will offer a total of 15 concerts in Rome (2), Toulouse, Valencia (6), and in Valencian cities and towns such as Gandia, Chiva, Xàtiva, Sagunt, Ayora and Llíria, performed by the winners of the previous edition: Alexéi Sichev, Salome Jordania, Ryutaro Suzuki and Zifan Ye.
