Betind the scenes notes. 16th day

On Saturday, the Competition entered its crucial, but also most festive and elegant stage, as each of the 11 participants is to perform one of Chopin’s piano concertos, with the orchestra, preceded by a solo rendition of the Polonaise-Fantasy, Op. 61. 

That day in attendance was Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, as well as some laureates of previous editions of the Competitions, like Marc Laforêt. Many members of the audience dressed up for the occasion, highlighting its special character.  

Appearing on stage on Saturday were Tianyou Li of China, who chose to play the Concerto in E minor, Op.11, followed by Eric Lu of the United States, who played the Concerto in F minor, Op. 21, while Tyanyao Lyu of China and Vincent Ong of Malaysia both played the Concerto in E minor.

This year, for the first time, the regulations require the finalists to play solo Chopin’s late work, the Polonaise-Fantasy, published in 1846. The concertos were written by young Chopin, still in Warsaw, and are excellent examples of the brilliant style of enchanting musical themes and light-sounding virtuoso passages. Putting these two so different compositions together in the final round is a true test for the pianists.

Members of the orchestra of the Warsaw Philharmonic, very experienced in playing Chopin, said before going on stage that their goal was to give the young pianists as much support as possible. ‘Like the doctors say: “Primum non nocere” or first of all do no harm,’ said jokingly Damian Kułakowski, who plays a viola.

The orchestra had 45-minute rehearsals in the morning with each pianist. ‘They are all excellent artists, and they are very well prepared, they have their clear messages, their individual visions of this music,’ Kułakowski told.

The conductor, Andrzej Boreyko, led the orchestra very softly, with utmost attention and making sure that the piano was well heard.

Tianyou Li said after the performance that he was feeling ‘relaxed and glad that it’s over but also happy’ since he had the occasion to play in the finals and has also learned a lot from Boreyko about playing with an orchestra. Li described the Polonaise-Fantasy as a ‘very demanding and complicated piece of music with plenty of meaning and emotion that needs to be played with calm.’ What he needs most now is to have a ‘good night’s sleep because there has been a lot of stress and practice lately.’

Eric Lu also said he was ‘relieved’ after his last audition and noted that playing with the orchestra was ‘quite nice’ and took off some of the stress because he was making music with other people. He found it challenging to play Chopin’s early work right after one of his last and most complex works, but he also noted that he could always feel the support of the audience, which ‘understands the plight of the pianist that enters the stage.’          

The other seven finalists – to play on Sunday and Monday – are Miyu Shindo and Shiori Kuwahara from Japan, Zitong Wang from China, Kevin Chen from Canada, David Khrikuli from Georgia, Piotr Alexewicz from Poland and William Yang from the United States.     

On Monday night we are to hear the final results of the Competition.

Monika Ścisłowska-Sakowicz