Winning a Piano Competition is not important.

“Competitions are for horses, not artists”

Just practice 40 hours a day.

A friend of mine, fantastic pianist, graduate of Manhattan School of Music spend two years of his life going from competition to competition. He spend a lot of money: entrance fees, flight tickets, hotels... His best result? In two competitions he passed to the second stage.

"A performance is not a contest, but a love affair"

I suspect competition results would be quite different if the judges did not know the identity of the pianist, and could not see him/her. Just seeing a competitor approach the piano might suffice to color a judge's opinion! Does she stride to the piano confidently, or does he sort of slouch, as if unsure of h imself? Such impressions can carry weight, even if denied or unacknowledged.

All i know is that mr ice sits on your piano and tells you to not miss a key

The fear to offend anybody has become a systemic problem of the modern world.

Sir Henry Walford Davis said "Our object is not to gain a prize or defeat a rival, but rather to pace one another on the road to excellence". That was on the wall above my piano teacher's piano.

Always a treat listening to your interesting piano stories! Thank you for sharing & wish you the best mr robert

Excellent presentation, as always!!! Thank you!

Very insightful. Thank you for taking the time to speak about this.

I had the good fortune to attend the Van Cliburn competition in the early 1980's. Although the entire event was spellbinding, I enjoyed the preliminary rounds most of all. In the course of a couple of days, I heard perhaps a dozen different interpretations of several seminal pieces (including the Beethoven Appassionata, A Chopin Scherzo, etc.). I wish I had the time and opportunity to do it again.

Brilliantissisissississimo! Gives us a more detailed explanation unlike others on KZread.👌👌

Robert you always have interesting videos and lots of nice pianos to play on. I like hearing the inside scoop/behind the scenes too. Thank you.

Thank you. Have wondered about the piano compitions. Began in music and played juries in college but changed to art for a BFÀ. Did very well in art compition... Never really thought much about it. Just entered what was at hand. Now as a retired person I very thankful for KZread and your classes there which let me grow in music and piano again. Thank you!

Always insightful .. thank you Robert Estrin!

Very interesting. I think piano competitions are so important to keeping classical piano music alive. I love to follow them, and hear the up and coming youngsters. Interestingly, Lang Lang and Yuja Wang - two of the most successful artists today, did not do a lot of competitions.

I was entered for a piano competition when I was 14 by my piano teacher. I am so glad I chickened out, it would have damaged my love for the instruments.

Love what you said about individualism and taking liberties with expression to create a much more heartfelt expression that resonates with a player's inner being. I feel sorry for those music college students who's enrollment are decided on a jury.......some may be thrown out of college for different expression to what the jury likes.........Hope you are doing well