Results of the Sergei Rachmaninoff Competition

The results of the Second International Competition named after Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff have been announced in Moscow. The young but already large-scale creative review has confirmed its significance for the global music community. It is held in three categories, those in which the genius of Sergei Rachmaninoff shone. These are piano, composition, and conducting. "Born in the year of the 150th anniversary of Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff's birth, our international competition has become a unique starting platform for talented young musicians from around the world who wish to prove themselves. This competition featured 24 laureates from eight countries, and this, of course, answers questions about modern challenges, about how the language of music unites the world," noted Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova in her welcoming speech. In this regard, the final days of the pianists' competition were the most vivid and memorable. The special charm and uniqueness of the competition is the round with Rachmaninoff's romances, revealing the participants as accompanists. Rachmaninoff's romances are a microcosm of his genius. They require from the pianist, in addition to technical virtuosity and variety, also deep musicality, sensitivity of hearing and heart. To perform them well means to create a living, breathing space where the voice and piano merge in the expression of boundless Russian beauty. All finalists coped with this task at a high level. The final performances of pianists with the orchestra became the most vivid and intense stage of the competition. Accompanied by the State Orchestra named after Evgeny Svetlanov (conductor – Ivan Nikiforchin, winner of the first prize of the First Rachmaninoff Competition), the pianists presented their interpretation of Rachmaninoff's concertos – music of truly existential power, in which personal drama (especially in the Second and Third) grows to universal tragedy and triumph.

Who became the winner of this competition? Among the pianists, there are two of them – Vladimir Vishnevsky (Russia) and Rui Ming (China). The first place among conductors was taken by Oleg Khudyakov (Russia). The leader among composers is José Manuel García Ormigo (Spain).

"Incredible twelve days!" emphasized the artistic director of the competition, the famous pianist Denis Matsuev. "We are the happiest people because this team will remember that the start of their great and, I have no doubt, головокружительной career began in Moscow, at the Second Rachmaninoff Competition."