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Ivo Kahanek: "I tend to be the universal type of pianist".

Article Excerpt
This year saw the 56th year of the Prague Spring International Music Competition. It is an event that makes the Prague Spring Festival not "just" a star-studded event, but also a welcome chance for young musicians at the start of their careers to display their talents, and if they get to the final to play with a symphony orchestra. This year it was the turn of young trombonists and young pianists. The contests in the different instruments do not take place at regular intervals and the piano competition was being held for only the ninth time (the preceding years were 1948, 51, 57, 63, 73, 88, 93, and 98). Among Czech competitors, in the past Zdenek Hnat (1957), and Martin Kasik (1998) won first prize, and this year it was another Czech, Ivo Kahanek, who--like his older colleague six years ago--carried off the laurels with ease despite the strong international competition (4.6 pianists from 13 states). The second prize went to the Korean Dong Min Lim, and the third place was shared by the Japanese Takashi Jamamoto and the Slovak Matej Arendarik. Let us hope that as in the past, so for this years winners success in this prestigious competition will be a springboard for a successful international career.

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In the last decade one undoubted benefit of the PS International Competition has been its role in the systematic propagation of Czech contemporary music. New pieces by Czech composers have become a regular part of the obligatory competition repertoire. This year the competition committee for piano turned to Petr Eben (just celebrating a jubilee 75 years), who composed a liturgical piece for the piano "Universi". New pieces are premiered in the...

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