View source for International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs

[[File:Dominic Piers Smith at the 23th International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, Paris.jpg|thumb|Dominic Piers Smith (race car designer, UK) at the finals of the 23rd International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs (2012)]]
The '''International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs''' (French: ''Concours des Grands Amateurs de Piano'') is a piano competition for amateur pianists, held in Paris, France. It has been held annually since 1989. The competition is widely considered to be one of the top-level competitions for amateur musicians in the world.<ref>[http://www.pianoamateurs.com/documents/presse/2012/competition-report-mai-2012.pdf Competition report] in the [http://www.rhinegold.co.uk/magazines/international_piano/ International Piano Magazine], accessed 5 January 2015.</ref>
<ref>[http://www.csindy.com/coloradosprings/putting-the-amour-back-in-amateur/Content?oid=1115753 Putting the Amour Back in Amateur], Colorado Springs Independent, accessed 3 February 2015.</ref>

== Concept ==

Created in 1989 by [[Gérard Bekerman]], professor of economics at the university and a graduate of the Paris School of Music, the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs is designed for top-level amateurs. They come from all walks of life – doctors, office workers, lawyers, students, pensioners, engineers, and many others. The contestant's minimum age is 18; there is no upper age limit.

The competition has met with considerable success over the years, attracting hundreds of candidates from more than 50 countries worldwide.<ref name="competition_website">[http://pianoamateurs.com/ Website] of the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, accessed 5 January 2015.</ref> One of the basic principles of the competition is the free choice of programme. There are no set pieces. The aim is not to limit the candidates, but to discover the works of musicians of their own choosing. Gérard Bekerman, the founder of the competition, claims that in Paris, the desire to "win" is outweighed by the love of music: "Pianists discover that the Competition for Outstanding Amateurs is not a competition but an 'anti-competition'. There are no opponents, no competitors, no judges, just music lovers".<ref name="competition_website"/>

The competition is held in three rounds:

* '''Preliminaries:''' candidate’s choice ''(10 minutes)''
* '''Semi-finals:''' a work by Bach and a romantic composition ''(15 minutes)''
* '''Finals:''' free program ''(30 minutes)''

Ten to twelve semi-finalists and five or six finalists are selected each year.

== Level ==

[[File:XXV Concours des Grands Amateurs de Piano - Finale.jpg|thumb|Poster of the final round of the 25th Competition (2014) with the programmes of the finalists]]
The originality of the competition lies in the fact that the competitors are not amateurs in the sense of "dabblers", but pianists, "who don’t just play the piano", musicians who, at some time in their lives, have had to make a choice, often a difficult one, between their profession and their potential career as a concert performer, the choice between making a living and their love of music.<ref>[http://pianoamateurs.com/documents/presse/2006/interview_crescendo_magazine.pdf Interview with Gérard Bekerman] in the [http://crescendointernational.org/English/Materials/magazine.php "Crescendo" magazine], accessed 3 February 2015.</ref>

As a result, the quality of the performance is very high. Many of the amateurs are real virtuosi; pianists often choose technically tough pieces by [[Franz Liszt|Liszt]], [[Frédéric Chopin|Chopin]] or [[Sergei Rachmaninoff|Rachmaninoff]] for their repertoire.<ref>[http://pianoamateurs.com/documents/presse/2010/Pianist_Num_54_05_2010.pdf Competition report] in the [https://www.pianistmagazine.com/ "Pianist" magazine], accessed 3 February 2015.</ref>

The winners have been invited to play with orchestral backing in the Sorbonne in Paris, under the baton of [[Georges Prêtre]] and the American conductor [[George Pehlivanian]] and, more recently, with the Symphony Orchestra of the Republican Guard of Paris directed by [[François Boulanger]] and the orchestra of the Paris Conservatorium of Music conducted by [[Pierre-Michel Durand]]. Many award winners have been invited to play at the ''Les Amateurs Virtuoses!'' festival, one of the most significant festivals for amateur pianists held all over the world.<ref>[http://www.pianestival.org Website] of the "Les Amateurs Virtuoses!" piano festival, accessed 3 February 2015.</ref>

== Jury ==

Each year, the panel of judges consists of well-known pianists and key personalities: [[Idil Biret]], [[Geneviève Joy-Dutilleux]], [[Anne Queffelec]], [[Sabine Lacoarret]], [[Germaine Devèze]], [[François-René Dûchable]], [[Marc Laforet]], [[Aldo Ciccolini]], [[Michel Dalberto]], [[Jay Gottlieb]], [[Alexis Weissenberg]], [[Marc-Olivier Dupin]], [[Eric Heidsick]], [[Jean-Claude Pennetier]], [[Dominique Merlet]], [[Siheng Song]], [[Michel Beroff]], [[Nella Rubinstein]] and so on.

A second "press panel" consists of more than twenty music critics representing both the main European dailies and the national and international media.

Finally, there is an "audience award" which is given to the amateur pianist who has the most votes from the audience, collected at the final round of the competition.

== Prize winners ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Top prize winners (since 2009)
|-
! No.
! Year
! 1st
! 2nd
! 3rd
! Press award
! Audience award
|- valign="top"
! 20th
| 2009
| bgcolor="gold" |{{flagicon|UK}} '''Rupert Egerton-Smith''' ''(lawyer)''
| bgcolor="silver" |{{flagicon|Ukraine}} Dmytro Vynohradov ''(airline manager)''
| bgcolor="cc9966" |{{flagicon|France}} Romaine Coharde ''(meteorological engineer)''
{{flagicon|Brazil}} Robert Fuchs ''(architect)''
(tie)
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|France}} '''Romaine Coharde''' ''(meteorological engineer)''
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|UK}} '''Rupert Egerton-Smith''' ''(lawyer)''
|- valign="top"
! 21st
| 2010
| bgcolor="gold" |{{flagicon|France}} '''Loïc Lafontaine''' ''(assistant manager)''
| bgcolor="silver" |{{flagicon|Canada}} Michael Cheung ''(management consultant)''
| bgcolor="cc9966" |{{flagicon|Canada}} Daniel Chow ''(chartered accountant)''
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|France}} '''Loïc Lafontaine''' ''(assistant manager)''
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|France}} '''Loïc Lafontaine''' ''(assistant manager)''
|- valign="top"
! 22nd
| 2011
| bgcolor="gold" |{{flagicon|UK}} '''Simon Grisdale''' ''(interpreter)''
{{flagicon|France}} '''Robin Stephenson''' ''(mathematician)''
(tie)
| bgcolor="silver" |{{flagicon|France}} Claire Rocher ''(mathematician)''
| bgcolor="cc9966" |{{flagicon|USA}} Gorden Cheng ''(financial analyst)''
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|UK}} '''Simon Grisdale''' ''(interpreter)''
{{flagicon|France}} '''Robin Stephenson''' ''(mathematician)''
(tie)
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|France}} '''Robin Stephenson''' ''(mathematician)''
|- valign="top"
! 23rd
| 2012
| bgcolor="gold" |{{flagicon|UK}} '''Dominic Piers Smith''' ''(race car designer)''
| bgcolor="silver" |{{flagicon|Japan}} Kensucke Ota ''(physician)''
| bgcolor="cc9966" |{{flagicon|Hong Kong}} Ricker Choi ''(financial analyst)''
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|UK}} '''Dominic Piers Smith''' ''(race car designer)''
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|UK}} '''Dominic Piers Smith''' ''(race car designer)''
|- valign="top"
! 24th
| 2013
| bgcolor="gold" |{{flagicon|France}} '''Sylvain Carpentier''' ''(mathematician)''
| bgcolor="silver" |{{flagicon|Italy}} Paolo Gilardi ''([[phycologist]])''
| bgcolor="cc9966" |{{flagicon|Switzerland}} Jeremy Mätzener ''(law student)''
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|France}} '''Sylvain Carpentier''' ''(mathematician)''
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|France}} '''Sylvain Carpentier''' ''(mathematician)''
|- valign="top"
! 25th
| 2014
| bgcolor="gold" |{{flagicon|France}} '''Antoine Moreau''' ''(manager)''
| bgcolor="silver" |{{flagicon|France}} Thomas Prat ''(quantitative analyst)''
| bgcolor="cc9966" |{{flagicon|Russia}} Mikhail Dubov ''(computer scientist)''
{{flagicon|USA}} June Wu ''(consultant)''
(tie)
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|Russia}} '''Mikhail Dubov''' ''(computer scientist)''
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|France}} '''Thomas Prat''' ''(quantitative analyst)''
|- valign="top"
! 26th
| 2015
| bgcolor="gold" |{{flagicon|France}} '''Samuel Bach''' ''(mathematician)''
{{flagicon|USA}} '''Michaël Slavin''' ''(ophthalmologist)''
(tie)
| bgcolor="silver" |
| bgcolor="cc9966" |{{flagicon|Israel}} Eric Rouach ''(estate agent)''
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|Israel}} '''Eric Rouach''' ''(estate agent)''
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|Israel}} '''Eric Rouach''' ''(estate agent)''
{{flagicon|France}} '''Samuel Bach''' ''(mathematician)''
(tie)
|- valign="top"
! 27th
| 2016
| bgcolor="gold" |{{flagicon|France}} '''Olivier Korber''' ''(trader)''
| bgcolor="silver" |{{flagicon|France}} Olivier Dupont ''(financial engineer)''
{{flagicon|France}} Julien Cohen ''(mathematician)''
(tie)
| bgcolor="cc9966" |
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|France}} '''Olivier Korber''' ''(trader)''
| bgcolor="bbffbb" |{{flagicon|France}} '''Olivier Korber''' ''(trader)''
|}

== External links ==
* [http://pianoamateurs.com/ Official International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs website]
* [http://parlonspiano.com/pianonews/160/25eme-concours-des-grands-amateurs-de-piano 25ème Concours des Grands Amateurs de piano - Parlons Piano]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slm2IIjo3Eg Mikhail Dubov Jr. (Press award 2014) in the final round of the 25th competition]
* [http://www.musicaltoronto.org/2012/10/24/interview-amateur-is-just-a-label-for-toronto-pianist-ricker-choi/ Interview with Ricker Choi, award winner at the 23rd competition]

== See also ==
{{Portal|Piano}}
* [[International Chopin Piano Competition#Chopin Piano Competition for Amateurs|International Chopin Piano Competition for Amateurs]]
* [[Piano Bridges International Competition for Amateur Pianists]]

== References ==
<references/>

[[Category:Piano competitions]]