Arthur Rubinstein Competition Joins With The Buchmann-Mehta School To Create a Virtual Pianofest

The Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, due to hold its 16th edition this year, has, like so many other arts events, had to cancel due to social distancing restrictions put in place related to the novel coronavirus. Instead, however, the storied Tel Aviv-based competition and the memory of its legendary dedicatee will be celebrated with the 'Arthur Rubinstein Virtual PianoFest', a partnership between the Rubinstein Competition and the Buchmann-Mehta School Of Music at Tel Aviv University (BMSM), in conjunction with Haaretz newspaper. Joint Artistic Directors are Idith Zvi, Director of the Arthur Rubinstein International Music Society, and Tomer Lev, Director of the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music (Lev will also host some of the livestreamed concerts).

Running on the dates intended for this year's Rubinstein Competition, 5th-21st May, the festival includes a wide variety of events, encompassing famous laureates of the Rubinstein Competition, rising pianists on the Israeli and international scene, and leading pedagogues and composers. The events broadly fall into three areas - livestreamed recitals, broadcasts of classic archive performances from the competition's past years, and supporting discussion-based events. All events take place at 6pm Israel time / 5pm Central European Time / 4pm British Summer Time / 11am Eastern Daylight Time.

The livestreamed recitals will include performances from leading pianists of our day - previous winners of the Rubinstein Competition Boris Giltburg, Alexander Korsantia and Roman Rabinovich. Giltburg, livestreaming from the Netherlands, will play on Sunday May 17th. Rabinovich will livestream his recital from Calgary, Canada, and Korsantia from his home in Boston, both on May 8th. All other live performances will be streamed from the BMSM's renowned Clairmont Hall, including a nightly recital series featuring 12 top young Israeli pianists - all recent winners of national piano competitions and/or members of the Rubinstein Competition Junior Jury and some already making very impressive international inroads in the early stages of their careers.

A classic archive performance will open the festival, on Tuesday May 5th - highlights from the 2014 Rubinstein Competition Gala Concert featuring (the 2011 winner) Daniil Trifonov playing Beethoven's Choral Fantasy, preceded by a performance of Stravinksy's Les Noces - the Israel Camerata is conducted by Stanley Sperber. Subsequent archive performances include, among others, Alexander Gavrylyuk giving the 2005 winner's recital (May 18th), Sara Daneshpour winning third prize at the 2017 competition (May 19th) playing Mozart's 25th Piano Concerto with the Israel Camerata under Avner Biron and Daniel Ciobanu winning second prize from that same year (May 20th), playing Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Omer Wellber. Both are followed by the 2017 winner, Szymon Nehring, playing Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto with the Israel Philharmonic and Wellber (May 21st).

For the discussion-based events, distinguished pianist and teacher Arie Vardi (himself a former Director and current faculty at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music) will present two special editions from the archive of his much-admired television program, Intermezzo With Arik. In the first (May 9th), Vardi interviews Dr. Alina Rubinstein, daughter of Arthur Rubinstein, about her father's career and musical legacy. In the second, Vardi interviews the Georgian pianist Alexander Korsantia, winner of the Rubinstein Competition in 1995 (May 16th). On May 14th, five of Israel's most distinguished teachers and composers - Oded Zehavi, Moshe Zorman, Ofra Itzhaki, Michal Tal and Josef Bardanashvili - gather for a panel discussion on Israeli music for piano, moderated by Ariel Cohen, Chair of the Rubinstein Competition's Board of Directors. And on May 15th, teacher and pianist Michal Tal features in a specially put-together archive program featuring a variety of commissioned pieces written for the Rubinstein Competition, among them For Ella by Noam Sheriff (1991), Memories by Oded Zehavi (2001), Fantasia by Josef Bardanashvili (2005) and Fascinating Rhythm (1989) by Moshe Zorman. This event will also feature footage of Michal Tal as a young girl taking part in a master class given by Arthur Rubinstein at the Jerusalem Music Centre.

The events will stream on the Facebook pages / websites of the partner organisations (the Arthur Rubinstein International Music Society, the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University, and Haaretz.

For full details of the Arthur Rubinstein Virtual PianoFest see The Arthur Rubinstein International Music Society website (https://arims.org.il).

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