The prize for the winner of the contest is an organ angel figure.
Photo: Courtesy of “KP”
13 THOUSAND DOLLARS PRIZE BAG
The second and third rounds took place in Kaliningrad, where the largest organ in Russia is located. Of 22 people, six advanced to the third round: four Russians, representatives of China and France.
On September 8, the Cathedral hall was sold out. At the solemn ceremony, awards from various cultural institutions of Russia were presented for an hour! Intangible prizes include an interview with a music publication, as well as performances at prestigious organ halls in the country. The total prize fund of the contest was 13 thousand dollars.
The winner of the first prize was the Russian Maria Koronova, a small girl, but at the same time she has amazing strength. Maria was born in Ust-Ilimsk and now studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. ABOUT HIM. Rimsky-Korsakov.
“I haven’t fully realized that I won the contest,” says Maria. – I very much remember the state in which in the middle of the program I realized that I was not worried. I hope this is a sign that I have moved to another level of performance, attitude towards performance. I tried to motivate myself: of course, this is a contest, you came to show what you have earned over the years of studying the organ. My two performances in the first and second round were at night and I imagined that I was giving a concert. This helped a lot.
YOU WILL HAVE TO LEARN RUSSIAN!
For the first time in the history of the competition, the qualification round was held in Beijing. Nine Chinese organists advanced to the second round, exactly the same number as the Russians.
For the first time in the history of the competition, one of the winners was a representative of the People’s Republic of China: Xiaofeng He, a student at the Central Conservatory of China, received second prize.
Xiaofeng displayed excellent technique, as well as amazing poignancy and deep knowledge of music. As it turned out, in order to better understand Mikael Tariverdiev’s music, Xiaofeng even watched our famous film “Seventeen Moments of Spring”.
Sorbonne University student Jean Nouvel-Halou (France) won third prize.
Jean, being in Russia for the first time, specifically requested to participate in the Moscow round of the competition, where he was selected by a professional jury headed by Eugenio Maria Faggiani (Italy). This smiling young musician won the sympathy of the jury and fell in love with the Russian public.
By the way, Jean Nouvel-Halou understands Russian quite well. His family pays special attention to Russian culture. His parents love Russian music and Russian literature. Jean admitted that he would definitely study Russian again. Well, this knowledge will definitely be useful to you: among the numerous awards that the Frenchman received were performances in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Diplomas from the XIII International Competition that bears the name. Michael
THE YOUNGEST ORGANIST IS 15 YEARS OLD!
Tariverdiev was awarded to Aida Glukhova and Elena Maleva of Russia. The youngest finalist of the competition, Irina Kryukova, received the special Georgy Boos prize “Hope for the Fatherland”. She’s only 15 years old! Ira studies at the Moscow Children’s Music School named after Edvard Grieg.
– For several days we had the joy of listening to excellent interpretations of very interesting programs. “It was exciting to learn new interpretations and new characteristics of the national styles of the contestants,” says jury president Ioann Vekso, handing the figure of the organ angel to the winner Maria Koronova. – Many of the participants may be dissatisfied with their results, but I am sure that all of them, without exception, after leaving Kaliningrad, realize that they learned a lot here and made new friends. Therefore, I wish all the contestants a successful career and good luck!
Traditionally, the competition program includes the performance of organ works by Mikael Tariverdiev. At the end they played one of the movements of the Chernobyl symphony, a complex work not only technically but also emotionally. Mikael Leonovich wrote it shortly after the tragedy, while visiting the nuclear power plant.
Of course, Chernobyl required special preparation. Maria studied the diaries of Mikael Leonovich, in which she talks about the play, an interview given after the premiere of “Chernobyl”, performed by Harry Grodberg in Chelyabinsk, she read a book written by Vera Tariverdieva.
