Greetings

Greetings from the President

In times like these writing a preface to a yearbook that should serve as a projection of the future challenges that we as members of the World Federation of International Music Competitions are facing, may appear questionable or rather useless.

The future is always unpredictable but now even the present has become so complex and challenging that it sometimes appears as if we had lost our bridge to the past as well as the future.

After almost two years of constant crisis management in international music life, facts are emerging: pre-pandemic music life has lost a lot of its appeal. Even after the reopening of concert halls, audience numbers have been shrinking. Due to ongoing travel restrictions, national music scenes are tempted to transform into closed circles.

Strangely enough this rather gloomy scenario is an excellent opportunity to emphasize the extraordinary potential of our members. Music competitions, obviously are much more than artistic games followed by an award ceremony. The stages we continue to provide all around the globe are still those most easily accessible to young talents looking to be heard and seen; the transformation from purely live staged events to online and hybrid formats has been advanced mostly by competitions; aspiring talents on stage may attract new and younger audiences and the network of our global federation provides young professionals with the opportunity of taking their first steps inside a fascinating world of cultural diversity.

In a nutshell: This moment is crucially important for us as a federation and for every single member to underline our own competence and powerful potential to act as an incubator, providing the future tools, frameworks and contents of global music life.

Each of us has their own vision, potential, their own strength, but together we are even stronger!

Peter Paul Kainrath President

Greetings from the Secretary General

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Competitions are back! Despite all the restrictions and cancellations, despite all the border closures and quarantine mandates, and after the horror of overflowing hospitals and ever-growing numbers of deaths, music has won over the pandemic. The summer and autumn of 2021 have shown a multitude of new ideas and initiatives, growing application rates, growing online audiences... But globally watched events like the Montreal, Busoni or Chopin Competitions have shown in a dramatic manner how much Covid has changed the music world.

People have learned how to live with the pandemic. Restrictions like masks, reduced seating arrangements or QR code checks are likely to stay with us for a while. Moreover, ecological footprint considerations have further cut international travel and thus the number of overseas participants to our competitions.

However, while streaming has become more commonplace than ever because all of these issues, we have learned, once again, to appreciate the immense importance and value of live performances. We have experienced fabulous projects with artists around the world taking part in virtual events, connecting across borders and continents, raising new interest in classical music, creating new audiences online. But in the end, we have also realised that music is alive, and has to stay live, now more than ever.

At the beginning of 2022, we look forward to welcome back many more competitions, presented all or in part digitally, with great and innovative ideas to audiences around the world. But at the same, we’ll also be back in the concert hall, to experience, to enjoy, to feel music live.

We hope that this newly designed and expanded yearbook will be a helpful companion through the ever changing world of WFIMC music competitions.

Sincerely yours

Florian Riem Secretary General