International Piano

International Piano offers a rich mix of inspiration and guidance to pianists and piano fans around the world, from dedicated amateurs and students to professional pianists, teachers and aficionados. Celebrating the piano in all its forms, including the fortepiano and digital keyboards, each edition of our magazine is packed with interviews, features, news and reviews showcasing the top artists of today and yesteryear.

Silver celebration

LETTERS

Casio launches new digital pianos

Nicolas Namoradze receives UK Critics’ Circle Award

NEWS IN BRIEF

New label promotes women composers

Sense of self • Jonathon Brown meets Bobby Mitchell, artistic director of the EBEN festival in France, to discuss his freestyle approach to Schumann’s late works, and the liberating idiosyncrasies of Haydn

Phantoms of the piano • How spooky is the piano? Benjamin Ivry ponders a new book that suggests the instrument invites paranormal experiences

On a sound track • Ten years ago, French pianist Alexandre Tharaud played himself in Michael Haneke’s film Amour, enriching his already deep interest in the movies. He tells Jonathon Brown why he is on a campaign to stop film composers being undervalued by the classical music world

A whole new world • Virtuoso arrangements of tunes from Disney movies are the focus of Lang Lang’s latest album, which he hopes will offer younger listeners a way into classical music. Owen Mortimer reports

Celluloid maestro • Director Todd Field’s new film TÁR features a pianist turned composer, conductor and writer caught up in intense power struggles. The role is played by Cate Blanchett, who talks to Jonathon Brown

Eclectic reflections • George Xiaoyuan Fu explores resonances between the past and present in his debut album Mirrors, which juxtaposes Ravel with music by six later composers

Leading ladies • Almost any piano teacher will say that the majority of their students are female, so where are all the women when it comes to handing out the glittering prizes at major music competitions? Vincent Lenti delves into the long history of gender bias

Shared dialogue • The last Long-Thibaud Competition saw a standoff between the jury and the audience, but with a history stretching back nearly 80 years it takes more than a scandal and a pandemic to knock it off course. Jonathon Brown looks forward to the reborn competition

Competitions diary

Russian revelations • Sviatoslav Richter offers some intimate insights into the music that inspired and challenged him, his relationship with audiences and penchant for practising at the 11th hour

Past master • Claudio Arrau recounts his memories of one of the most in uential yet controversial musicians of the 20th century, composer-pianist Ferruccio Busoni

Timeless greats • Julian Haylock meets the pianist, author and composer Alfred Brendel, who looks back over his long career in a wide-ranging interview about the music he loves most – and why

RETURNING TO THE PIANO • A technical refresher course for recommencing piano enthusiasts, created for International Piano by Murray McLachlan

La bella Cracovienna

Rajarata • From Piano Postcards

City living • With performances in ornate Baroque churches, private homes, a nature reserve and even a bus, Piano City Lecce showed how the piano can infiltrate every aspect of a city’s culture. James Imam took his fill of events during the three-day marathon

Critic’s choice

In concert

Resonating deeply • British pianist, composer and writer Sir Stephen Hough reveals his formative musical influences