Piano Cleveland, parent organization to the prestigious Cleveland International Piano Competition, postponed last year’s edition due to the pandemic.
That fueled a rethinking of the traditional classical music competition model, where competitors gather in the host city for multiple rounds. Instead, the 2021 edition, taking place July 8-August 11, will feature a combination of virtual and live performances, with the semi-final and final rounds taking place as usual with the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall. The first and second rounds will be recorded at locations around the world including Cleveland, Boston, Brazil, Hamburg, Israel, Moscow, Paris, Tokyo and Beijing. The broadcasts will take place July 8-25 and will be available for free listening for three weeks. Eight semi-finalists will come to Cleveland to compete.
And Piano Cleveland has invited back the 28 contestants chosen for the 2020 competition to compete for the Mixon First Prize of $75,000, a New York performance debut, management services and a recording on the Steinway & Sons label.
“The Cleveland International Piano Competition is prestigious for being an important milestone in our pianists’ musical journey, opening the door for once-in-a-lifetime career opportunities,” says Piano Cleveland president Yaron Kohlberg in the press release announcement. “As an organization whose backbone is built on protecting the future of piano music, it has never felt more important than now to innovate the performance landscape with a hybrid structure that creatively solves many safety challenges and allows us to create a path of opportunities for young artists to share their music with the world.”
For more details go to pianocleveland.org.