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The world's best young pianists will be strutting their stuff
in South Florida for the next two months.
Pianomania.
The word isn't in the dictionary. But if it were, it would
probably be defined as "an outbreak of excessive enthusiasm
for the piano and pianists; a craze. "Which is what South
Florida is about to experience, as pianists descend on concert
halls here in the most spectacular display of young keyboard
talent this area has ever produced.
Starting this week, one South Florida music organization
after another will showcase young pianists to help them gain
a foothold in a field that's increasingly hard to enter. It's
not a concerted effort, just a fortuitous convergence.
"It's incredible just how tough it is even for the biggest
talents to launch a career," says Giselle Brodsky, a piano
teacher whose third annual Miami Festival of Discovery starts
the ball rolling Tuesday. Brodsky has billed six rising stars
from England to Italy through Feb. 27 at Miami Beach's Lincoln
Theatre. Among them are Freddy Kempf, a 23-year-old British
pianist who has been creating a sensation in London; Ilya
Itin, 1996 winner of the famed Leeds Competition; and Denis
Burstein and Francesco Libetta, two dark horses in the pianistic
derby.
"There just aren't enough opportunities for the outstanding
young pianists who are flooding out of the conservatories"
says Brodsky - referring to the estimated 10.000 piano graduates
annually in the U.S. alone.
Hanna Saxon, director of the Sixth American National Chopin
Competition, bringing 24 pianists to Miami's Gusman Center
from March 4 to 12, says, "Too many people fail to realize
of importance of young artists a National resource. Once they
leave their schools, where they were stars, they find themselves
on a lonely, dark uncharted road, trying to embark on careers
without adequate support."
Even the youngest pianists need encouragement, which is
why Loretta Dranoff, founder of Miami's Murray Dranoff International
Two Piano Competition, is launching her first International
Young Artists Two Piano Competition March 15-19, for duo-pianists
10 to18 years old.
And the "pianomania" continues: Konstantin Lifschitz, a
prodigious recruit from Brodsky's past festivals, performs
with the Florida Philharmonic Feb. 29 - March 3; Arcadi Volodos,
a phenomenal new powerhouse, plays for the Concert Association
of Florida on March 9. The New World Symphony is presenting
winners of Israel's Arthur Rubinstein Competition, April 6-9.
Piano Passion>>
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