Winner Tae Hyung-Kim receives his prize from Petula Clark. (Photo: HIPCC)

Musical heaven – international piano competition hits the high notes

It’s a few days after the event, but the joys of the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition are still vivid in my memory of a wonderful evening last Saturday.  Hastings is not great when it comes to classical music – events are comparatively few and far between – but this was well worth the wait.  A packed house at the White Rock Theatre listened spellbound to three immensely talented finalists, each accompanied by the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, writes Antony Mair .

The Italian Michelle Candotti is only 16 years old, but gave a virtuoso performance of Chopin’s Concerto No. 1 in E minor.  It’s immensely difficult, and she seemed technically faultless.  We were then treated to Jean-Paul Gasparian from France, all of 17 years old, but already an experienced performer, giving a flamboyant performance of Liszt’s show-off Concerto No. 1.

This was already treat enough, but the icing on the cake came with Tae-Hyung Kim and Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto.  The emotional power in his playing was astonishing – the slow movement in particular was heart-rending and brought tears to the eyes.  He won the main prize from the judges and the subsidiary prize awarded to the player who most impressed the audience – determined by the degree of applause, foot-stamping, cheering etc that greets each name as it is announced at the end of the concert.

The competition is part of the Hastings Musical Festival, which covers a wide range of events: Petula Clark, President of the Festival, presented the prize.  The artistic director, Frank Wibaut, gave a brief speech of thanks, in the course of which he recommended attendance at the earlier heats of the competition – which I shall certainly try to do next year.  However, I hope we shall not have to wait until then for some more classical music of this standard in our seaside town.

Republished from ‘Postcards from Hastings’ with the kind permission of Antony Mair.

Michelle Candotti, 16, from Italy - second place and prize for the youngest finalist.

Editor’s addition: The evening of 16 March saw Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition’s climactic finale at the White Rock Theatre in Hastings and drew audiences from far and wide to pack out the theatre. Petula Clark, President of the Festival, attended, along with the Mayors of Hastings, Winchelsea and Bexhill, as well as Jeremy Birch, leader of Hastings Borough Council, Hastings MP Amber Rudd, former MP Michael Foster, Sara Stonor, Vice Lord Lieutenant of East Sussex, celebrated pianist Dr Peter Katin, American concert pianist Hyperion Knight and artist Ralph Heimans, among others.

Jean-Paul Gasparian, 17, from France, third place playing Liszt.

The evening began with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra conducted by Brian Wright performing Mendelssohn’s Overture, The Hebrides (Fingal’s Cave), which led beautifully on to the performance by the first of our competitors, Michelle Candotti, 16, from Italy, who performed Chopin’s Concerto No1 in E minor Op.11 with such feeling and grace that you would never had known she was so young. This was followed by the second youngest of our competitors Jean-Paul Gasparian, 17, from France, who chose to perform Liszt’s Concerto No1 in E flat to rapturous applause before the interval, and the final performance by the eventual winner, Tae-Hyung Kim. Tae-Hyung played Beethoven’s Concerto No5 in E flat – “Emperor” – Op.73 and not only wowed the audience to win the audience prize but very deservedly also took the overall prize as winner of the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition 2013.

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