Michigan State University College of Music professor emeritus Ralph Votapek gained fame when he won the first Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1962. This weekend, a new competition bearing his name will be held in East Lansing.
About 80 musicians applied for the competition, and the youngest of the ten invited from the U.S., Canada and China are a pair of 14-year-olds.
Ralph Votapek was reluctant at first to have the competition bear his name.
“I was kind of embarrassed by it,” he said. “I suggested ‘Why don’t you just call it the Green and White Competition or something like that?' But, I guess I’ve gotten a little used to it."
MSU College of Music professors will serve as judges, including Derek Polischuk, who said there are lots of piano competitions at universities.
“I think the scope of this competition is quite a bit bigger, the prize money is quite a bit bigger, the recruiting of contestants that we’ve done is quite a bit more widespread,” Polischuk explained. “So, in my opinion, this will quickly become one of the more premiere competitions that happen at a college.”
About that prize money: more than $10,000 is on the line.
While the potential winnings are important, Votapek emphasized that just getting to this point can encourage a young player’s development.
“Encouragement to enter another competition if that’s the route you want to go, and not to be discouraged if you don’t win because there’s always another competition not too far ahead.”
Polischuk agreed, adding that being invited to a contest like this can play a role in advancing a young musician’s career.
“In this day and age, a line on your biography, a line on your resume, is a good thing,” he said. "Whether it’s a student trying to make a life as a musician or a student just wanting to have an impressive resume for college. These are important things, and they matter.”
For the semifinal round Friday, contestants will play for no more than 30 minutes each. They're required to play at least one classical sonata movement and a significant work or works from the Romantic Era. Any remaining time can include any music chosen by the competitor.
Those who make the finals will play for up to an hour on Sunday. Polischuk said he’ll be looking for several things as a judge.
“We’re going to hear a lot of very proficient, well-prepared pianists, but I think someone who has a deep connection to the music and has clearly studied the music in a way that gives honor to the composer but also shows their unique artistic voice. I think that we just simply need more of that in the world.”
Votapek encouraged the public to attend, not just to enjoy the music, but also to provide the pianists with some atmosphere. Playing only for judges, he added, can be cold and tense.
“I remember when I was in competitions like that, and that’s why the Van Cliburn, from the very beginning, was so different, because it was so public. It was really the first public competition in this country, and since that time, most competitions are public, and I’ve been on juries where they’ve had good contestants, but there have been hardly anybody in the audience, and it’s sort of a dead feeling," Votapek said.
Audience response will not affect the scores earned by the musicians, but there will be an Audience Favorite Award.
The inaugural Ralph Votapek International Young Artist Competition will be held in the MSU Music Building’s Cook Recital Hall. The Friday semifinals will run from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on August 15. The finals are on Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m.
In between, the public is also welcome to attend masterclasses led by MSU piano faculty for non-advancing semifinalists at 1 p.m. Saturday. All events are free of charge.
The MSU College of Music is a financial supporter of WKAR.
