Between Rach and a good place

Unless you are a classical piano aficionado, or just happen to be driving on Green Street on Friday, you probably wouldn’t know that part of a world-class event — the third triennial Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition & Festival — was being held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.
Attracting some of the world’s top classical musicians, the weeklong event started in Pasadena six years ago, but this year the city of Los Angeles and the city of Moscow are assuming sponsorship honors, with opening ceremonies beginning today in LA City Hall’s Tower Room.

On Friday, the artists move to Pasadena for the first leg of a three-part competition for $30,000 and other prizes. The second part of the event is set for Tuesday and Wednesday at the Civic Auditorium.
Along with the money, the winner will get to perform with the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra in Moscow and tour other Russian cities with the orchestra.The second-place winner will receive $20,000, with third place winning $15,000. In addition, semifinalists will each receive $2,000, and an audience prize of $3,000 will be awarded with funds provided by Old Town Music in Pasadena.
Although three years ago the competition was held exclusively in Los Angeles, “We missed the warmth from Pasadena last time, so this year we decided we had to come back,” said Rachmaninoff spokesman and former piano technician Steve Dyer.

“There was just a really friendly embrace of the idea of the competition being held in Pasadena,” Dyer said.

The contest stems from the work of the nonprofit International Piano Competitions and Festivals Inc., formerly known as Master Classes International, which started out offering a series of music classes and ended up spawning relationships between founder, Armen Ter-Tatevosian, and many great musicians in Russia. With the help of some of those artists, Ter-Tatevosian started the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition & Festival.

In 2002, Ter-Tatevosian launched the first competition in Pasadena with the idea of making it a quadrennial competition. But because of positive public response, the event was held again just three years later in 2005.

This year, two-dozen pianists from 10 countries will be competing. Of the initial 24, only eight contestants will make it to the second round, which will be held Tuesday and Wednesday at the Civic Auditorium, and three will battle it out on June 21 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

Mayor Bill Bogaard, who traveled to Russia just prior to the first competition, said he was delighted that the event is back in Pasadena, although the city is not directly involved with its production this year.

“I would say it’s always a source of pride to me when events of this importance occur in the city,” Bogaard said.

The competitors will be judged by a jury of five distinguished musicians and music teachers, including American pianist Earl Wild, the jury chairman.  In addition to exceptional musical skills, the contestants must showcase their ability to excel under pressure.

In previous years, the number of judges has been larger, but the smaller group of judges for this year’s contest doesn’t concern Dyer. “We have been able to get such high-caliber judges, and when you have such high-level piano pedagogs willing to participate, you don’t need as many” he said. “As things have gotten more and more developed, there really is no need to have more than five.
“The judges,” Dyer continued, “are really looking for who is the most interesting, who has the most to offer. One of the biggest criteria for determining the winner is whether the individual is at the point in their life to really continue their career and make this their profession. … They must have enough knowledge to perform a wide variety of pieces.”

Dyer explained that judges tend to fall into two main groups — purists who want everything to be played exactly as it was intended, and those who prefer to see the performer’s individualized approach.

“Certainly, you need someone who can have the audience engaged with what’s happening on the stage,” Dyer said. “But you also want someone who is going to take risks and make [the pieces] interesting.”

Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff, who was born and raised in Russia but relocated to Beverly Hills (where he died from a melanoma in 1943 at the age of 69), “provides a good link between Russia and the US because of this,” Dyer said.

In addition to his piano compositions, Rachmaninoff also wrote a series of vocal pieces and served as a conductor for the Moscow Private Russian Opera Company and the Bolshoi Theater.

“He was really what you would call a triple force,” said Dyer, which is what inspired the Rachmaninoff International Vocal Competition and the Rachmaninoff International Conducting Competition that are set to start in 2009 and 2010.

“Having gone through three different international piano events, the competition is finally reaching a maturity that has gotten the attention of much of the international musical world,” he says. “From that came the plans to have a Rachmaninoff vocal and Rachmaninoff conducting competition with all three being triennial events — so there would be a different Rachmaninoff event each year.”

The locations for the vocal and conducting contests are still being worked out, but Dyer said that the piano competition will most likely always be held in Southern California, simply because “we’ve had a lot of success here.”

Bogaard lauded Ter-Tatevosian and his nonprofit group for putting on the show without much help from the city of Pasadena.

“I would say that we were talking about providing volunteer support for developing the program. Our Arts Division provided staff support, and there were many in the community who hosted the young performers,” Bogaard said.

“Mr. Ter-Tatevosian has developed his nonprofit organization so that he’s able to administer the program largely through his own efforts.  To his credit, he has developed an organization that allows him to produce the event without significant city support. I’m proud that Pasadena did work closely with him while planning the first event,” said the mayor. 

Tickets are available for any round of the competition except the opening ceremonies, which are by private invitation only, through Ticketmaster or at the competition’s official Web site, www.rachfest.com.