THE HONENS WAY

The first Honens took place shortly after the 1988 Olympics and Calgary had become well-known for its volunteerism and high level of community spirit and engagement.

“So here we were, an international piano competition and people were more than happy to volunteer,” says Jenny Belzberg.

2003

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“What would my life be without Honens—certainly my career would have been less successful and my life emptier.”

—Roberto Plano

As the competition continued to grow, the organization sought ways to engage Calgary’s business community. Belzberg knew a lot of oilmen in town who weren’t conversant in classical music, but she had a hunch that if they got up close in a comfortable, familiar setting, they might just fall in love with it and form a new musical community in the process.

Inspired by Andrew Raeburn, Honens’ second Artistic and Executive Director, and launched in Belzberg’s home, the Honens Laureate Circle was born. “In Mozart’s time, they did things in people’s homes, and it worked,” Belzberg says. “People got interested.”

“Honens Laureate Circle events feature intimate recitals performed by past Laureates at the homes of Laureate Circle Members and in other unique and interesting venues, creating some unforgettable musical moments,” says Honens’ Artistic Director Jon Kimura Parker. “You never know what’s going to happen at one of these events. All the ones I’ve participated in have created their own energy. There is something truly special about them.” Admittedly, the Honens way differs vastly from that of other piano competitions, but it’s truly appreciated by artists.

“That’s the difference between Honens and other competitions in the world,” says 2006 Prize Laureate Minsoo Sohn. “I don’t even like to think of Honens as solely a competition. It’s more about the music and everything we share together, almost like a foundation, a musical foundation. The real deal starts after the Competition. They explore lots of different details—how to become an artist—and they support you full-heartedly.”

Host Homes

The Calgary volunteer spirit extended to providing housing for competitors. At that time, Honens Quarterfinals took place in Calgary, meaning the organization had to find host homes for 40 competitors! Jackie Flanagan was one of the original hosts.

“Mrs. Honens was still alive, and it was the first year of the Competition,” Flanagan says, “and there was quite a bit of excitement about it. A call went out for people with grand pianos, asking if they would be willing to billet people for the duration of the event.”

Billeting meant, and still means (at least for Honens), rehearsals in the living room, meaningful discussion over dinner, and sharing in the challenges of performing in a major international piano competition while being a guest in a stranger’s home.

Back in 1992, Flanagan hosted Dmitry Nesterov as her billet. She then lived on Riverdale Avenue, and as luck would have it, three different Riverdale Avenue families hosted Honens competitors that year.

“People in the neighbourhood would go out for an evening walk and hear beautiful music coming from many homes along the street—it was a phenomenon! It seemed as if the entire city was alive with music.”

The tradition of pairing competitors with host families continues to change lives today through forever-forged-friendships. As 2006 Prize Laureate, Minsoo Sohn says, “The everlasting spirit and heart of these special people have made an irreplaceable impact on my life. It made me who I am now.”

Artistic Director Evolution

For Kenneth Delong, the key to explaining the growth and evolution of Honens into the well-established piano competition it has become, was the substantial role played by Andrew Raeburn, who took over as Artistic Director from Gloria Saarinen following the first Honens Competition.

“It was his knowledge of music, his knowledge of the variety of ways in which one can display oneself as both a pianist and musician, and how you could organize these things to bring these qualities to the fore. That takes a particular kind of understanding, both of the organization and also of the thing being organized, which is how to determine who is a really good pianist. The manner in which he set that up and organized it for a number of years set the foundation for the Honens tradition that has evolved, and when Stephen McHolm took over in 2004, he had a very strong basis upon which to proceed.”

2006 Honens Laureates L to R: Hong Xu, Hinrich Alpers, Minsoo Sohn (Prize Laureate). In 2021, Alpers became a Member of the Honens Board of Directors.

And proceed he did. During his tenure with Honens, McHolm made indelible impressions upon the organization, not the least of which was the introduction of the annual Honens Festival (named 2015 Festival of the Year at the Calgary White Hat Awards) and renowned late-night cabaret, Bison Noir. In 2015, the Honens Board of Directors made the decision to divide the organization’s administrative and artistic functions into two distinct roles and a global search began. In September 2016, Neil Edwards began his journey with Honens as its first President & CEO. His first order of business? To identify and secure a new Artistic Director to carry on the organization’s strong international reputation of excellence.

“It was important that we find the perfect Artistic Director,” says Edwards, “someone who not only embodied Honens’ ethos, but who had a deep understanding of and respect for Esther’s remarkable vision. Working closely in tandem with Eric Friesen, who was then a Member of the Board, we knew we would only find that in one person: Jon Kimura Parker. Thankfully, Jackie said yes because, as Eric says, ‘There was no Plan B.’” Parker, who had been a member of the Second Jury at the inaugural Competition in 1992, assumed his current role in January 2018 and continues to investigate ways to keep Honens innovative, to grow its brand identity at both home and abroad, and to carry on the extraordinary legacy of the Artistic Directors who came before him.