Music at Europa ‘07

“A tremendous experience” was how young Richard described it

Richard Uttley, the entrant from the Lions Club of Denby Dale District, who won at our MD District and Multiple District Finals, did us proud at the European Finals in Bucharest which took place in the Bucharest Radio Station in one of their concert halls.

Richard was one of 15 competitors from Spain, Norway, Estonia, Finland, Israel, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Turkey, Germany, Austria, The British Isles & Ireland, France and The Netherlands.

The final takes place over two days. On the Thursday morning each competitor plays the imposed piece, which this year was Beethoven’s Sonata No. 26 in E flat major, op. 8la, “Les Adieux” 2nd and 3rd movements.

In the afternoon they played the first piece of their choice, selected from the Repertoire List of 12 pieces. Richard played, as he did at the Multiple District Final and at the MD Convention in Torquay, Brahms op. 119 Four Pieces for Piano.

At the end of the afternoon the judges selected their “Best Six” to go forward into a concert on the Friday afternoon. These were the competitors from Israel, Russia, Germany, Austria, France and our own Richard. At the concert each of the six played their second choice from the Repertoire List, in Richard’s case Chopin’s Ballade in F minor op.52.

Then came a nail-biting time as the judges retired to select the first three places. We were quietly confident that Richard had played magnificently and would feature. A number of representatives of other countries came to congratulate us on Richard’s performance. However judging is subjective and the opinion of the judges did not correlate to ours!

The winner was from Germany, second from Austria and the third from Russia.

However, when asked, Richard said that it had been a tremendous experience, he had enjoyed it, had learned a lot and made new friends. This is what it is all about. It is also the first time that the entrant from MD105 has got into the last six.

Now it is time to find a violinist for this year’s competition.

STOP PRESS. Richard was having a CD coming out in November.

PDG Bill Collin

Looking to 2008

The instrument for 2008 will be the violin. Details are on the MD website. MD Finals will be on 12 April at the Birmingham Conservatoire. The successful candidate will go on to compete at the 2008 Europa Forum in Cannes. PDG Eric Roberts (see page 8 of the MD Directory) is in charge.