Behind the scenes notes. 2nd day

The first to appear on stage was Ziye Tao, from China, as the auditions began with surname beginning with the letter T that was drawn during an opening news conference. 

‘Being first wasn't very comfortable,’ Tao said, clearly still emotional after his performance. “I need to calm down now.’

And then ‘I need to sleep and eat something.’

Tao decided to take part in the Competition because he watched its 18th edition on live stream during the pandemic and ‘liked the atmosphere.’

Chopin’s music is “so sensitive, so emotional. I love it. But I have to practice Chopin every day. It’s so sensitive, it takes your energy, it takes your emotional energy. It also has a very strict structure. That’s the difficulty in Chopin: melody and there’s the structure.’ said Tao.

The three polish pianists were Jan Widlarz and rivalling brothers: Andrzej and Krzysztof Wierciński.

The latter said after his performance that he was ‘quite satisfied.’

“I am happy, I am grateful that I could share my gift, that God has given me, with the audience,’ Krzysztof Wiercinski said.

He said that he tries not to think about the presence of the Jury.

‘I focus more on the music, on the message, on being authentic on the stage, on being myself.’ He is grateful to the listeners for having taken the trouble to come and listen to his performance.

Commenting on this unusual situation of participating in the same competition as his brother, Krzysztof Wiercinski said that they support each other rather than compete.

‘We grew up together, so sometimes, in some aspects, we are similar to each other,’ and the fact that he performed right after his older brother ‘introduces such a family atmosphere to the Warsaw Philharmonic.’

The older brother, Andrzej Wierciński, is taking part in the Competition for the third time. In 2021, he was admitted to the third stage.

‘I'm taking part for the third time, and we'll see what will happen,’ Andrzej Wierciński said in an interview a few days before his performance.

He keeps returning to the Competition because it has a ‘great musical tradition’.

“First of all, I want to present myself at the same stage as the greatest artists of the world, and it is a profound honour to simply play on this stage and during such a huge event,’ said Andrzej Wierciński in the interview.

Among the audience that packed the halls was Małgorzata Flis from Krakow, an illustrator of music editions, who travelled almost three hours by morning train to make it to some of the day’s auditions.

'I have been following the Competition for 50 years (in the media) but this is my first time actually being here,’ Flis said.

‘I am very happy. I must admit that listening live cannot be compared to live streaming.’

“It is a special experience because it is listening together, holding our breath together. When the pianist starts to play very well, suddenly everyone notices it and together we start to be more attentive and still.’ 

‘Next time I will try harder to get the tickets, although it is difficult.’

What she values most in Chopin is ‘the unbridled, unbelievable imagination (…) and, of course, those beautiful melodies, probably the most beautiful in the world.’

Competition auditions start every day at 10 a.m. and last until 10 p.m., with a three-hour break in the early afternoon.

Monika Ścisłowska-Sakowicz