Professor Vanessa Latarche and Paul Hughes,

New appointments at Hastings International Piano

With immediate effect, the charity Hastings International Piano is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Vanessa Latarche as Artistic Director. HIP has also appointed Paul Hughes, formerly Director of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and BBC Singers, as a consultant acting Managing Director to build on the success of the 2022 Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition and develop future strategy while the search is on for a permanent successor to Ian Roberts.

Professor Vanessa Latarche said: “I am delighted to be working more closely with Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition in this new role of Artistic Director, particularly with Paul Hughes who brings a wealth of experience to build on the fantastic foundations laid down by Ian Roberts.”

Paul Hughes credit Chris Christodoulou

Paul Hughes: “My role as Acting Managing Director of Hastings International Piano will feed my passion for discovering and nurturing the next generation of musicians, and I look forward to working with Vanessa, the management team and the board on future direction and strategy.”

The Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition has evolved from its earliest days as part of Hastings Music Festival to become an internationally-renowned competition for young concert pianists from around the world.

The Sixteenth Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition took place for the first time in both Rye at Rye Creative Centre (Stage 1) and Hastings, at the White Rock Theatre, from 24 February to 5 March 2022. It attracted 360 applicants across global online auditions, 40 of whom were selected to compete in Hastings. Their prize: the opportunity to perform with the brand new graduate orchestra the Royal College of Music Prince Consort Orchestra, during semi-finals, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra during the two-night final. The first prize is a financial award of £15,000.

Professor Vanessa Latarche

The next major event in the calendar is a gala prizewinners’ concert at the White Rock Theatre, Hastings, on Saturday 4 March 2023. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Rory Macdonald are joined by two of the 2022 prize winners: Shunta Morimoto (Japan, 18yo) who took first prize will perform Beethoven 4. Mariamna Sherling (Russia, 21 yo) who took third prize, will perform Rachmaninov Paganini Variations. The programme also includes works by Dvorak and Tchaikovsky.

Further events include fundraising concerts by Nikita Lukinov, presented by Vinehall Concerts on Sunday 30 October at 3pm; Mitsuko Uchida at Fairlight Hall on Sunday 2 April, 2023, and Thomas Kelly will give the annual Summer Picnic Concert at Fairlight Hall on Sunday 9 July 2023.

Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition

The celebrated Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition has its roots in a history going back more than 100 years. Piano Classes for both Juniors and Seniors have been a part of the Hastings Musical Festival from its very early days, and it is recorded that a 13-year-old Ronald Smith, later renowned as the supreme interpreter of Alkan, won the concerto class as early as 1935 with a brilliant rendition of the first movement of Beethoven’s concerto no. 2 in Bb Major. Sadly, by the early 1990s the concerto class had become so diminished as to disappear altogether, until in 2005 and thanks to the inspiration of another alumnus of the Hastings Musical Festival, Jonathan Marten, and the hard work of a hastily assembled Piano Concerto sub-committee, the competition was revived under its new name of Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition.