Australia's most prestigious piano competition held since 1977, The Sydney International Piano Competition, also known as The Sydney, began its preliminary round on 1st of July 2021.
For the first time in its competition history, the 2020 event was postponed due to the pandemic. Further adding to history, the competition has gone digital for the first time this year.
Artistic Director of The Sydney Piers Lane said in a statement, “When our 32 competitors were selected from 285 applicants for a live competition in Sydney in July 2020, they little dreamt they’d end up devising a completely different program from the one they’d submitted, meeting the numerous unexpected challenges occasioned by an online event. The results are spectacular and will create a buzz that will resonate for years. We must all support these great young talents – our world-famous competition will act as a springboard to the world stage for the winner and very possibly to a number of other artists as well. Be there or be square!”
Yu Nitahara (Japan) is one of the 32 competitors who were selected for the competition.
This is the first time for Nitahara to be part of an online competition.
Source: Yu Nitahara
To maintain high quality broadcast, as well as accurate judging, there were numerous recoding requirements the competitors had to adhere to. Only one take of the recoding was allowed, and a representative from The Sydney attended the recoding online, just to name a few.
"I have done many recordings in the past for pre-selections of competitions. For these, I would do numerous recordings and pick the one I am most happy with. However there was only one chance for The Sydney, just like the live competition" says Nitahara.
While the online competition without the audience or the judges had the advantage of allowing Nitahara to "concentrate in (his) own world", the "challenge was to raise the spirit" and "perform as if there was an audience".
"When I play in the usual circumstance, I draw feelings from the crowd"
Nitahara has resided in Austria for the past few years. He received a full scholarship from the Japanese Cultural Affairs and Meiji Yasuda Cultural Foundation to complete his formal studies under Professor Pavel Gililov at University Mozarteum Salzburg, where he now works.
His recent prizes include, first prize in Morocco Philharmonic Orchestra International Music Competition (Casablanca, Morocco 2019) and third prize in International Mozart Competition (Salzburg, Austria 2020).
Although the coronavirus pandemic is now settling down in Austria, there were some difficult times for Nitahara, who does not have a piano at home. He was unable to practice for sometime when a cluster infection closed his school.
Despite the many challenges along the way, "I really thought into how I can deliver through the lens to the audience on the other side" says Nitahara.
The competition will consist of three stages – preliminary, semi-final and final – comprising of 28 competitive rounds. The 28 online sessions will be available for audiences worldwide to view in their own homes, on-demand and broadcast over three weeks.
For more, visit The Sydney International Piano Competition
Listen to SBS Japanese Radio on Tue, Thu and Sat from 10pm
