Symposium: The Artist of the Future

A Symposium by the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition

Programme:

9:30 The Artist of the Future: a Pedagogical Artist?
Prof. Paolo Somigli, PhD (Free University of Bolzano)
9:40 The Global Neutral Style
Josu de Solaun (Pianist)
10:00 Winning a Competition: What Does it Mean?
Yifan Wu (Pianist) & Josu de Solaun & Andrea Penna (Journalist)

— 10:30 Coffee Break —

10:50 The Next Generation of Interpreters
Masashi Nishimaki (Artistic Director – Toppan Hall Tokyo)
11:10 Beyond Online and Offline: Hayato Sumino (Cateen)
Shannen Liu-Kotow (Managing Director – Liu Kotow Artists)
11:30 La prossima generazione degli interpreti vista dall’Italia
Rita Virgili (Gioventù Musicale Italia) & Andrea Penna

— 11:50 Lunch Break —

16:00 Shaping the Identity of the Future Artist Through Media
Serena Bortone (Journalist) & Andrea Penna
16:30 The Scientist as a Musician: Mathematics and Music
Kit Armstrong (Pianist)

— 17:00 Coffee Break —

17:20 Classical music is not dying: it has never been alive
Lucas Debargue (Pianist)
17:30 Classical Music is as Vivid as Ever
Martin Cullingford (Gramophone chief editor)
17:50 Our Own Future as Artists
Yifan Wu & Nikola Meeuwsen (Pianist) & Martin Cullingford

Why hold a symposium on The Artist of The Future?

The final stages of the 66th Busoni Piano Competition not only resulted in the naming of a First Prize – they also marked the beginning of a debate directly related to some of the somewhat unusual artistic choices made by the winner, Yifan Wu. In the Solo Finals, he chose to connect the contemporary work directly to the subsequent Bach/Busoni transcription; on other occasions, he allowed himself even greater freedom through improvisation.

The effect was beautiful, startling, and artistically meaningful – and it sparked a vivid debate among jury members and audiences alike. Are competitors permitted to introduce such highly personal touches into competition repertoire? Are they still acting within the framework of rules that are intended to guarantee fairness and comparability? Other juries might have concluded that a competitor in a top-level music competition should, above all, adhere strictly to the score and refrain from becoming overly creative. Yet the unique combination of people and circumstances in Bolzano allowed something almost miraculous to happen: the jury chose to stand by its appreciation of Yifan Wu’s artistry and ultimately awarded him First Prize. In the months following this groundbreaking decision, the competition even adapted its rules, allowing greater room for personal interpretation, improvisation, and artistic freedom.

Why would a competition and a jury take a decision of such magnitude, especially when it appears to question some of the very foundations of contemporary music competitions, which tirelessly strive to identify the most technically accomplished performers?
This question leads to a more fundamental one: what do we believe the future of classical music should and can be?

Josu de Solaun, one of the jurors, still under the impression of the events in Bolzano, wrote a widely discussed essay on the state of contemporary classical music. De Solaun argues that modern classical performance has become dominated by what he calls the “Global Neutral Style” (GNS): a highly polished, technically flawless, internationally standardized approach to interpretation that prizes precision, clarity, and correctness above individuality, risk, and meaning. In his essay, he calls for a renewed emphasis on artistic voice, creativity, broad musicianship, and the acceptance of imperfection as a necessary condition for genuine artistic expression. Another juror, Lucas Debargue, followed suit and published his own reflections on the subject.

The Busoni-Mahler Foundation has a long tradition of positioning itself as a platform for the future of piano artistry. Consequently, it seemed an important task to take the meaningful process set in motion in Bolzano last summer to the next level by opening these questions to a broader audience and by involving not only De Solaun and Debargue, but additional voices from across today’s classical music landscape, such as pianist-scientist Kit Armstrong, journalists like Marc Cullingford (Gramophone), Shannen Liu Kotow, Agent of Cateen, and many others.

The Artist of the Future will, of course, focus on piano playing. Yet the ideas and conclusions emerging from this discussion can most certainly be applied to other areas of classical music and, indeed, to the arts in general.

Free entry

The Symposium will be live-streamed on www.giornaledellamusica.it/streaming 

Simultaneous interpretation in all languages will be available both in the conference hall and via the livestream. To use the interpretation service on site, participants are required to bring a smartphone and headphones.

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