What happened to Chinese pianist after the Tchaikovsky disaster
mainA message from 劉孟捷 Meng-Chieh Liu, his teacher at Curtis:
Tianxu An, who has been studying with me at Curtis for the last four years, has had an incredible milestone in his musical journey. He was fortunate enough to be among 26 participants selected to attend the 16th Tchaikovsky Competition. After ten grueling days of competition he reached the finals and despite a mishap out of his control, he played with remarkable musicianship under the pressure of those circumstances. I am truly proud of him for his extraordinary playing throughout the competition and ultimately receiving fourth prize. Through this amazing experience he has gained quite a fan base and I cannot thank all our friends and colleagues enough for their support. Bravo, Tianxu!
在柯蒂斯與我學習的四年中，安天旭每一天對於音樂的嚴謹態度與鑽研精神滴水穿石般積累著他的音樂能力，也造就了他在柴可夫斯基大賽上扣人心弦的精彩演繹。經過十天的高壓競賽，天旭承載著所有樂迷朋友們的關心與期望獲得了第四名及特別獎。作為導師，我為他在賽場上面對突發狀況臨危不亂，迅速切換並投入到新的音樂角色中而感到欣慰，更因他能有這一路非凡的人生經歷而替他感到開心與驕傲。在此向所有關心他的朋友致謝，你們的支持給予了他莫大的力量在音樂道路上繼續攀登！
Good to hear. A horrible thing to happen to him but there’s no such thing as bad publicity! Onwards and upwards for him hopefully.
He did great considering the circumstances. Congratulations!
He was given a full apology and the offer to repeat his performance. He rejected both.
Most likely he would’ve gained nothing meaningful by accepting, so it was probably a correct and intelligent decision. The “full apology” and the “offer to repeat” shows that it was obvious to everyone who was there that he was definitely wronged.
15 minutes of fame is 15 minutes of fame. Congrats, he’s the most famous 4th place finisher in the history of piano competitions.
You are forgetting Lucas Debargue. And he is still famous four years on.
No, so far András Schiff is the more famous 4th place.
No, Alfred Brendel is.
His first two rounds were terrific. Consider me a fan.
This why A.Kantorow played less risky 2nd Tchaikovsky concerto. Could he win with 1st-I doubt
I agree that in no other piano competition would the Tchaikovsky 2nd be a choice, much less the winning choice.
But then again, in no other competition would there be 7 Tchaikovsky first piano concertos played 7 times in a row.
There is such thing as mental fatigue.
So in this context, the choice of the Tchaikovsky second was brilliant. And it worked.
Next year, there will be as many 2nd concerti as there will be 1st concerti.
Tchaikovsky Competition takes place once every 4 yrs.
He has the distinction of being one of the most memorable, most human of the piano competitors.
I’m sure everyone is trying to book Mr. Kantorow right now. He is going to be very busy and will command top fees, of course. Sometimes orchs and managers are not looking for #1, but someone who they would really enjoy hearing and playing with, who also might be more available. For me, Tianxu An is that person.
I admired his playing, and his integrity. He is someone I would like to hear solo with my orch. I passed in my recommendation yesterday, along with several finalists (none of them 1st place winners) who I’ve respectfully asked my manager to consider. He’s listened to me once before, when I recommended a 4th place winner at the last Tchaik. who came to solo with us. It was a tremendous success and the audience and orch. were very pleased!
Hoping we’ll have a chance to hear Tianxu in person soon. He would be such a wonderful and interesting soloist!
This could be An’s act: he comes onstage blindfolded, not knowing which concerto the orchestra will play, and the audience watches how fast he can react to the first opening chords….
Good luck if he plays the FInnissy Concerto that way…
…yes indeed, a sure way to finissy’s career off..
Nope, Lucas Debargue is.
He looks about mid-30.
Winners are grinners.
Denis Matsuev: “Separately, I’ll say a little about the Chinese pianist An Tianxiu, who won the fourth prize…his performance in the second round was sensational (he played Variations on the Theme of Chopin, Rahmaninov, and Variations on the Theme of Paganini, Brahms). This is a man who, at the age of 20, plays beyond his years of maturity and possesses an excellent piano base. I think that the Tchaikovsky Competition will serve as a serious starting point for his great stage life.” https://rg.ru/2019/06/28/macuev-o-konkurse-chajkovskogo-byla-rossyp-udivitelnyh-talantov.html
Bravo, Tianxu An !
One thing I would like to see in his future is a string of new piano concerti composed for him by established and new Chinese composers. Build that repertoire. He’s in the driver’s seat now to help make that happen.
Yes, and especially concerti with aleatoric openings and surprise hairyvations, (preferably in distant, unrelated keys…or maybe not in any keys…)to highlight his exceptional reflexes and sang-froid. maybe he’ll need to work on his rude face-pulling a bit.