Having just announced collaboration with Graham Lynch, we are very pleased to add the piano music of contemporary Spanish composer Octavio Vazquez, to our repertoire lists, adding to the already evident Spanish influence of the OPC.

Octavio Vazquez's music has been performed throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, the National Auditorium of Spain, or the Big Hall of the St. Petersburg Conservatory.  He has also written for film and TV and collaborated with world-music and crossover artists as an arranger, orchestrator and producer, most notably with Grammy Award winner Cristina Pato.  His orchestration of "Negro Caravel" (Black Carnation) for Ms Pato's CD "Muller" was nominated in 2011 for the Spanish Music Academy Awards.

He has received commissions from the New York State Council on the Arts, Galicia Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Galicia Symphony Orchestra, Meet the Composer, Guernica Project, Via Stellae International Festival, Fulbright Foundation, Chi-Mei Foundation, and Xacobeo Classics 2010 among others.  Festivals include the Kölner MusikTriennale (Germany), the Prokofiev International Festival (Russia), Camarissima International Festival (Mexico), European Dream Festival (USA), and the AreMore, Via Stellae, Espazos Sonoros, and Música en Compostela International Festivals (Spain). 

Lectures and presentations include Hofstra University, Manhattan School of Music, The New School University/Mannes College, Johns Hopkins University, University of Maryland, Salisbury University, and Texas Christian University (USA), the XXXVII Congress of the International Viola Society (Southafrica), the Next Renaissance Conference (Netherlands), and Carlos III University (Spain). 

A Barrie de la Maza Scholar, Dr. Vazquez graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music of Madrid, the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Maryland, College Park.  He is also a pianist and a conductor, and can be heard often performing his own pieces.  Originally from Galicia, in Northwestern Spain, Octavio emigrated to the US in 1996, and resides in New York City since 1999.

Here is a full list of Octavio's piano music for the OPC. Please email him directly at mail@octaviov.com for PDFs of the scores:

Sonatina (1994, ca. 8')  - (difficulty: moderate-high)

Nineteen Preludes (2001, ca. 30') - (difficulty: from easy to moderate-high -- feel free to play one or a selection of preludes)

Galician Dances (2003, ca. 8') - (six dances, difficulty: moderate-high -- feel free to play one or a selection of dances)

Dear competitors
 
The piano music of Graham Lynch, if you haven't listened to it yet, is in our opinion truly beautiful, romantic, hypnotic and even haunting in quality. We encourage you to consider including one of his pieces in your programmes for the competition (currently listed in the contemporary category of our repertoire lists).  Collaborating with Graham is an honour; his music has been performed, broadcast and recorded in over thirty countries across the world, and his CD of piano music "Undiscovered Islands" was released in 2009 by Tonos Music in Germany. 
 
Graham has given us an exhaustive list of his piano music, which we have set out below. Some pieces have an indication of difficulty/ease next to them. If you want any more information on the pieces or to receive a PDF of the score directly, just send Graham a message at http://www.grahamlynch.eu/contact_page.php?page=8, and he will send the music to you by email. He is happy to answer any questions competitors may have.
 
To read more about Graham, please visit his website: 
http://www.grahamlynch.eu/index.php?page=1
 
Here is a full list of Graham's piano music:
 
White Book 1:
Vanishing Pathways (more challenging)
Hamamet
Night Garden (difficult)
Wave Break (difficult)
The Emperor's Field (easier)
Midsummer Reds
The Delight of Arrival (more challenging)
 
White Book 2:
Undiscovered Islands (difficult)
Night Journey to Cordoba
Dragon
Inner Moon
The Sadness of the King (more challenging)
Toques
 
Petenera:
Bell (easier)
The Six Strings (easier)
Dance
De profundis

 As you are all aware, the first deadline for making applications to the Open Piano Competition was yesterday, 31 March 2012. The deadline for late entries is currently set at 31 May 2012, with a £50 late entry penalty fee imposed on top of the normal entry fee. 

The Open Piano Competition is very pleased to announce Steinway Hall as one of its venues this coming October. Steinway Hall have very kindly offered the OPC use of their dedicated Recital Room, where competitors who are successful in being selected to go through to the first round of the competition will have the opportunity to perform on a stunning Steinway & Sons piano. 

Dear competitors and OPC followers,

Our long awaited news at last being announced is that Australian pianist and composer Dr Leslie J Howard, AM, is joining the OPC's panel of judges for the final night as chair of the jury.

Our team of adjudicators and artistic directors is honoured, thrilled and inspired to be able to work alongside Dr Howard in this new event. We, the directors, are incredibly pleased that such an esteemed concert pianist of truly international standing has come on board to support the OPC in its first edition. We feel that Dr Howard's involvement represents the endorsement we need, as a new competition, to be acknowledged among today's international piano competitions.

You will all know that Dr Howard is best known for his complete solo piano recordings of Liszt; let this be a hint for upcoming announcements confirming one of our special prizes!

Please read more about Dr Howard below, or by visiting his website http://www.leslie-howard.com/index2.html

"Leslie Howard has appeared internationally with many of the world’s finest orchestras, including the London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, English Northern Philharmonia, RTE National Symphony of Dublin, Hanover Band, Utah Symphony, Utah Philharmonic, Maryland Symphony, Mexico Philharmonic, Orchestra della Scala, RAI Toscana, San Remo Symphony, Orchestre de Cannes, Budapest Phiharmonic, Budapest Symphony, the orchestras of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Queensland and Tasmania in Australia, and the orchestras of Pretoria, Cape Town and Zimbabwe in Africa. He has been soloist with such renowned conductors as Claudio Abbado, Adam Fischer, Roy Goodman, James Judd, Joseph Silverstein, Barry Tuckwell, Sir Charles Groves, Vernon Handley, Jerzy Maksymiuk, Elyakum Shapirra, Jansug Kakhidze, Arthur Fiedler, Fritz Rieger, Alexander Lazarev, Hiroyuki Iwaki, and Sir Charles Mackerras.

 Dear Competitors

Due to an exciting new addition to our judging panel (to be announced) we are moving the date of the final round to 8th October 2012.

We trust that this is sufficient notice, for those of you who have already signed up with us, in which to amend your travel arrangements.

While we are aware that an additional two nights in London may cause a headache for the finalists in terms of finances, we do hope this will be mitigated by the opportunity this date change will provide for a little more practice!

Please do get in touch if you have any questions or concerns and keep an eye on your inbox for more news coming soon.

Warm regards to all

Ella

Dear prospective OPC competitors

In a bid to further increase our entries we would like to offer a permanent discounted entry fee of £75 to all full time students. Please sign up as soon as possible to avail of this opportunity!

We look forward to your applications!

Any questions, please email Coady, Marianna, Tamara, Rupert (see Team page), or myself, at info@openpianocompetition.com.

Thank you and Happy Valentine's Day!

Ella

Described as “disarmingly precocious” by the New York Times, Ashley Fripp has given solo and concerto performances in many of the most prestigious venues throughout the UK, such as the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, Cadogan Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, Bridgewater Hall, Kings Place and Birmingham Symphony Hall. Recent international tours have taken him throughout Poland, Germany, China, the Netherlands and the USA to such halls as the Carnegie Hall (New York) and the Audimax Hall (Regensburg).

He has won first prizes at more than a dozen national and international competitions, including the 1st Glasgow International Competition for Young Pianists in 2006 and the Award for Keyboard at the Royal Over-Seas League Competition 2011. He has also made appearances on BBC television and radio and has performed in the Edinburgh International, Chipping Campden, and City of London Festivals.  

Ashley is thrilled to have the opportunity to judge a new piano competition and is looking forward to the task at hand this coming October.

Dear OPC applicants

I wanted to get in touch to wish you all a happy New Year, and to let you know that our team of artistic directors and event promoters is hard at work looking at venues for each of the rounds of the competition. I would like to ask for your patience here; vetting all options among all those available in London is a lengthy process but we are making good progress and hope to announce on the website in the next few weeks at least one confirmed venue.

In addition, I would like to remind you that we have a deadline of 31st January for paying the reduced entry-fee of £75. We have had some queries via our Facebook page why we are asking applicants to sign up and pay so early on; the reason is simple: we need to have a lot more confirmed applications in order to run the competition in October. We believe that this is a great opportunity for pianists to compete, regardless of age and musical background, and we are quite unique as a competition in our lack of limitations. So, for those of you who have not yet paid, if you intend to enter, please do pay your entry fees as soon as possible (complete applications with audio recording do not need to be submitted until March 31st). 

Dear Competitors

We had previously stated that the first 20 competitors to submit their application to us by 12th December 2011 would benefit from the reduced entry fee of £75. As a xmas and New Year incentive for you get working on your repertoire during the holidays, we would like to extend this up until 31st January 2012. 

Please look out for OPC updates in the coming weeks; we will be announcing both venues and the final members of our guest panel of judges in the New Year.

As always, do not hestitate to get in touch with any of us if you should have any questions or concerns, and thank you all for your patience; as a newly established competition there have inevitably been some delays and teething problems to overcome!