A piano acquaintance alerted me to the sixth Young Pianist of the North competition which finished on Saturday. Unable to get to any of the competition rounds, I did make the masterclass in Newcastle on Saturday 30th November featuring pianists from the main category with teaching from Pascal Nemirovski , Bernd Gretzke and Françoise Thinat . Each teacher in turn provided feedback to the young competitors, who played repertoire including sonata movements by Beethoven and Mozart, interspersed with some Chopin. It was interesting to see how the young pianists operated under pressure - those who could successful deconstruct and reinterpret based on teacher suggestions, and those who couldn't! I didn't purchase a programme so sadly don't have detailed notes of the pieces performed. The standout performer - one to watch, indeed - for me was 17 year old Elizaveta Klyuchereva, who had Pascal Nemirovski in beaming smiles! The broad themes from comments and sugg...
The varied musings of a music maniac...