Concours Géza Anda
The Concours Géza Anda is a piano competition that has been held in Zurich every three years since 1979 . In 1978, Hortense Anda-Bührle (1926–2014), the widow of the Hungarian pianist Géza Anda , who died in 1976, founded the Géza Anda Foundation in his memory, which has been running the competition since it was founded in 1979. The internationally successful award winners include Michael Endres (1985), Hisako Kawamura (2003), Matthias Kirschnereit (1991), Pietro De Maria (1994), Georges Pludermacher (1979), Konstantin Scherbakov (1991), Hüseyin Sermet (1985), Henri Sigfridsson (2000), Nikolai Tokarew (2006), Andrew Tyson (2015), Denes Várjon (1991) and Alexei Volodin (2003).
The specialty of the Concours Géza Anda lies in the promotion of the award winners, for whom the Géza Anda Foundation arranges concerts in Europe , South America and Asia over a period of three years .
In 1987 the Concours joined the World Federation of International Music Competitions .
Prices (as of 2012)
Grand prizes
In addition to free concert management, the winners will receive prize money totaling 60,000 Swiss francs ; 1st prize 30,000 Swiss francs, 2nd prize 20,000 Swiss francs and 3rd prize 10,000 Swiss francs.
Mozart Prize from the Musikkollegium Winterthur
In consultation with the Musikkollegium Winterthur, the jury awards the Mozart Prize to a semi-finalist , which consists of a performance by the winner accompanied by the Musikkollegium.
Géza Anda audience award
Visitors to the final concert have the opportunity to award one of the finalists the Géza Anda audience award. In contrast to the main prizes, the audience award only relates to the final concert. It is donated by the private bank Ihag Zurich, which belongs to the founding families Bührle and Anda, and includes a concert appearance.
The Géza Anda Foundation advises the public that artistic performance should be decisive for the award. However, in recent years the audience has always decided to award the prize to the finalist with the most virtuoso piano concerto.
Schumann Prize
The best interpretation of a work by Robert Schumann will be honored with the Schumann Prize. It is sponsored by the concert agency Artists Management Company AG Zurich and consisted of prize money of 5,000 Swiss francs and a concert appearance. The 2012 award went to the Russian pianist and third-party winner Elmar Gasanov.
Sponsorship awards
Two young participants will receive a sponsorship prize of 5,000 and 3,000 Swiss francs, respectively, for their promising artistic performance during the competition.
Mode (as of 2012)
A number of compulsory pieces from the Viennese Classic , Romantic and Modern periods for solo piano and piano concertos must be prepared for the competition. The compulsory pieces are based strongly on the repertoire of Géza Anda. The whole competition is public and can be visited by anyone interested. The first two rounds take place in the premises of the Zurich University of the Arts. The Tonhalle Zurich is used for the Mozart examination and the final concert .
Preselection
In 2012 all candidates for the pre-selection round were invited to Zurich for the first time. The participants had to perform sentences and / or works of their own choice as well as from the compulsory pieces chosen by the jury for 25 minutes. In the meantime, based on an audiovisual application, a maximum of 50 participants are invited to the first round.
Recital
For the second round, which lasts 55 minutes, the remaining participants put together a recital program after consultation with the jury . Pieces that were played in excerpts in the first round can be considered again in their entirety.
Mozart exam
The semi-finalists each perform a Mozart piano concerto for the jury, accompanied by the Winterthur Music College under the direction of Theodor Guschlbauer . The Musikkollegium Winterthur also donates the Mozart Special Prize.
Final concert
During the final concert , the finalists will be accompanied by the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra . After the end of the final concert there is a short break during which the jury withdraws to deliberate on the judgment and during which the audience chooses the winner of the audience award. Then the main and special prizes will be awarded.
jury
The jury consists of internationally renowned interpreters of classical music , former award winners, music journalists and cultural managers . The jury presidents were Antal Doráti (1982 and 1985), Sándor Végh (1991 and 1994), Wladimir Fedossejew (2003), Franz Xaver Ohnesorg (2006), Jonathan Nott (2009 and 2012), Jesús López Cobos (2015) and Christian Zacharias (2018). The pianists in the jury included or include Michel Béroff, Bella Davidovich , Markus Hinterhäuser , Robert Levin , Oleg Maisenberg , Pietro De Maria (1st prize winner 1994), Dénes Várjon (1st prize winner 1991), Alexei Volodin ( 1st prize winner) . Laureate 2003), Elisso Wirsaladse and Gérard Wyss.
Winner of the Géza Anda Concours
| year | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 |
 Georges Pludermacher
|
 Heidrun Holtmann
|
- |
| 1982 |
Heidrun Holtmann
|
 Hung-Kuan Chen
|
Laurent Cabasso
|
| 1985 | - |
 Yukino Fujiwara, Hüseyin Sermet
 |
Michael Endres
|
| 1988 |
Konstanze Eickhorst
|
Yukino Fujiwara
|
 Ricardo Castro
|
| 1991 |
 Dénes Várjon
|
 Konstantin Scherbakov
|
Matthias Kirschnereit
|
| 1994 |
 Pietro De Maria
|
Yoshiko Iwai
|
Luca Ballerini
|
| 1997 |
Corrado Rollero (†)
|
Roustem Saitkoulov
|
Yuka imamines
|
| 2000 |
Filippo Gamba
|
 Henri Sigfridsson
|
Andrew Shibko
|
| 2003 |
Alexei Volodin
|
Sergei Kuznetsov
|
Hisako Kawamura
|
| 2006 |
Sergei Koudriakov
|
Nikolai Tokarev
|
Tomomi Okumura
|
| 2009 |
 Jinsang Lee
|
Alexei Zuev
|
Tatiana Kolesova
|
| 2012 |
Varvara Nepomnyashchaya
|
Kim Da Sol
|
Elmar Gasanov
|
| 2015 |
 Andrew Tyson
|
Aleksandr Shaikin
|
Ronaldo Rolim
|
| 2018 |
Claire Huangci
|
Jong Hai Park
|
Sergei Tanin
|
literature
- Dietmar Grieser, in your interests. Encounters with artist widows, Langen-Müller, Munich 1985, pp. 122–136 [on the establishment of the Concours by Hortense Anda-Bührle].
- Géza Anda. [Special edition of the magazine Du for Anda's 90th birthday as a supplement to issue 71/2011]. Contributions by Martin Meyer and Wolfgang Rathert ; Interviews with András Schiff , Jonathan Nott and Hortense Anda-Bührle; Portraits of the winners Pietro de Maria, Dénés Varjon, Alexei Volodin, Hisako Kawamura, Hüseyin Sermet, Henri Sigfridsson, Jinsang Lee and Konstantin Scherbakov. Du Kulturmedien AG, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-905931-17-4 .
Movies
- The Concours Géza Anda - legacy of a pianist. Jörg Lohner / nmz media (Germany 2011)
- Concours Géza Anda. A film essay by Theodor Eisner (1997)
- Concours Géza Anda 1991. Friedrich Schrag and Franziska Schuh (1991)
- Géza Anda - artist and person . Film portrait of Peter Reichenbach (Switzerland 1979)
- Géza Anda, pianist - conductor - educator. Film by and with Rolf Liebermann (Switzerland 1966)