The Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition is a

music competition A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, soloists, composers, conductors and musicologists. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are held to find pop starlets. Exampl ...

for young pianists that takes place in

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third ...

, Italy. It was founded in 1949 by Cesare Nordio in memory of the pianist and composer

Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...

History

The first

International Piano Competition was organized by Cesare Nordio in 1949 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the death of the pianist and composer.

Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (; 5 January 1920 – 12 June 1995) was an Italian classical pianist. He is considered one of the greatest pianists of the twentieth century. According to ''The New York Times'', he was perhaps the most reclusive, ...

was a supporter of the competition and was a member of the inaugural jury.

Alfred Brendel Alfred Brendel KBE (born 5 January 1931) is an Austrian classical pianist, poet, author, composer, and lecturer who is known particularly for his performances of Mozart, Schubert, Schoenberg, and Beethoven.Stephen Plaistow"Brendel, Alfred" ''G ...

won the 4th prize in this competition. For a few years a piano composition competition took place together with the piano competition. In 1956, the young

Maurizio Pollini Maurizio Pollini (born 5 January 1942) is an Italian pianist. He is known for performances of compositions by Beethoven, Chopin and Debussy, among others. He has also championed and performed works by contemporary composers such as Pierre Boulez, ...

took part in the competition, performing the Fantasia Contrappuntistica by

Kenneth Leighton Kenneth Leighton (2 October 1929 – 24 August 1988) was a British composer and pianist. His compositions include church and choral music, pieces for piano, organ, cello, oboe and other instruments, chamber music, concertos, ...

, which won the prize for composition; in 1957 Martha Argerich won the first prize. Other prize winners include Bruno Canino, Agustin Anievas, Joaquín Achúcarro, Jerome Rose, Garrick Ohlsson, Alberto Nosè and Wu Muye. Members of the jury have included:

, Nikita Magaloff, Igor Markevitch, Carlo Maria Giulini, Garrick Ohlsson, Bruno Canino, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Paul Badura-Skoda, Rafael Orozco (pianist), Rafael Orozco, Joaquín Soriano, Gerhard Oppitz, Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Michele Campanella, Leif Ove Andsnes, Adam Harasiewicz, Hiroko Nakamura, Martha Argerich, Andrzej Jasiński, Lilya Zilberstein, Tadeusz Żmudziński, Valery Afanassiev and Eliso Virsaladze.

History

Winners

References

External links