The Gilmore International Keyboard Festival 2006

It seems that piano competitions have been facing an identity crisis of sorts for several years now. The Van Cliburn, which represents my most direct experience with the phenomenon, is a microcosm of what has been going on lately. I attended the semi-finals in 1993 when Italian Simone Pedroni won the gold, and the finals in 2005, when Russian Alexander Kobrin followed in Pedroni’s footsteps. As the years pass, it becomes difficult to keep track of the many medalists of that one competition, let alone winners of the many international keyboard competitions that exist today.

What has been going on? And what effects are competitions having on the general state of music-making in the world today?