The Provincial Council of Valencia’s international piano competition reaches its twenty-third edition as one of the main references of pianism in the world. The President of the Provincial Council, Vicent Mompó, welcomed the universality of the Valencian pianist José Iturbi, after whom the competition is named, and “the potential achieved by the competition in its 44 years of existence, which is reflected in this new edition with the participation of 200 young pianists from 40 countries”. “To speak of Iturbi is to speak of talent, effort, youth and future, but also of memory, heritage and shared identity”, added Mompó.
The Provincial Council presented the most international edition of the Iturbi Prize this Monday in the courtyard of the Palau dels Scala, in which 20 performers of 11 nationalities will compete to reach the Grand Final on 13 June at the Palau de la Música, where the final phase of the competition returns on 4 June. The awards will be presented on Saturday 14 June at the closing gala that will take place in the Teatro Principal at 7:30 pm. The most represented countries will be China and Spain with four participants each, followed by the USA with three and Italy with two. Among the Spaniards, there is a contestant from the Region of Valencia, Fortunato Salvador García Piquer, a native of Onda.
Paco Teruel, Provincial Councillor for Culture, which organises the Iturbi Prize every two years, emphasised “the work of Ana Guijarro as Artistic Director and Maestro Achúcarro as the chair of a jury of recognised prestige, to whom we only pass on one guideline: to select the best, without fear of leaving an award vacant even if it proves unpopular”. According to Teruel, “excellence is one of the keys to the competition and I believe that we are on the right track when the pianists awarded in the Iturbi Prize are triumphing in the best competitions in the world”.
International platform
For his part, Vicent Mompó considers that the Iturbi Prize “is an international platform for the pianists of tomorrow, but also proof of the close ties of this land with music, understood not only as an artistic expression but also as the backbone of our land”. The Iturbi brand is that of “an illustrious Valencian who crossed oceans with his music and conquered the most demanding stages without forgetting his roots; a self-made man who knew how to harness the opportunity that the Provincial Council gave him in 1910, with a decisive grant that boosted his musical career”, the President of the Provincial Council recalled.
The importance of the competition far beyond our borders was also emphasised by the provincial councillor Paco Teruel, who considers the role played by the pianist Joaquín Achúcarro, Chairman of the jury, to be decisive. “With Achúcarro, the Iturbi Prize has acquired clear international recognition that is manifested by events such as the presence in Valencia this year of piano personalities such as Peter Paul Keinrath, President of the World Federation of Competitions, and Director of the Gustav Alink Foundation, a benchmark for all international piano competitions”.
Achúcarro himself thanked the artistic direction of the competition for “the rigour and professionalism in the selection of the contestants” and the “musical strength” of the event. Together with the Chairman of the jury, the Director of the Iturbi Competition, Ana Guijarro, took part in the presentation, stressing “the exhaustive selection process that we carry out with the unconditional support of the Provincial Council”. “Now it is in the hands of the contestants”, concluded Guijarro, who highlighted the obligatory performance in the competition of the work “Gra” by Sebastián Mariné, a piece that was completed during the DANA storm and which its author wanted to turn into a tribute to Valencia and the victims of the flood.
Programme, jury and prizes
The first phase of the competition will begin on Wednesday 4 June (9.30 am) and will continue on Thursday 5 and Friday 6 with new elimination rounds at the Palau de la Música, a partner of the competition together with the IVC. The semi-final will take place on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 June on the same stage, while the final is scheduled for 10 and 11 June, with the six performers with the best scores. Three pianists will compete in the Grand Final on Friday 13 June (7 pm, Palau de la Música), before the closing gala to be held at the Teatro Principal a day later. In addition, an extraordinary concert is scheduled for Friday 6 June at 7.30 pm in the Iturbi Hall of the Palau.
All the sessions of the competition will be free of charge for the public. In the case of the first phase and the semi-final, between 4 and 8 June, admission will be free until the Palau’s capacity is reached, with no need to book tickets in advance. Both the finals on 10 and 11 June and the Grand Final on 13 June will also be free for those attending, but tickets must be obtained through the Palau de la Música website or in person at the box office. The gala on 14 June at the Teatro Principal will also be open to the public, with tickets reservations at www.servientradas.com.
The jury is chaired by the Bilbao pianist Joaquín Achúcarro, who has triumphed in the most prestigious halls of 61 countries after his successful debut with the London Symphony. He will be accompanied by the Artistic Director of the event and one of the most renowned pianists of her generation, Ana Guijarro; the founder and Artistic Director of the Piano aux Jacobins Festival, Catherine d’Argoubet; the artistic manager and promoter of young talent, Paul Hugues; the pianist Jorge Luis Prats; the composer and artistic director Nicola Sani; the pianist and pedagogue Nikolai Demidenko; the Secretary-General of the Geneva International Music Competition, Didier Schnorhk; and the international concert pianist Janina Fialkowska.
As for the prizes, the winner will receive €30,000, the recording of a CD and participation in a concert tour; and the second and third place winners will receive €20,000 and €10,000 respectively, as well as participation in the tour with the winner. The three pianists who fall just short of the Grand Final will receive €5,000 each, and the best of them will receive an additional €3,000. There are also special prizes awarded by the Provincial Council itself and by collaborators such as the Philharmonic Society of Valencia and Kawai. These prizes will recognise the best performance of Spanish music, a piece by Chopin, a Mozart sonata and a Beethoven concerto. Finally, the best contestant chosen by the public will receive €2,000 from Clemente Pianos.
