There are over 600 international piano competitions today, and among the best is the Liszt Competition of Utrecht. It deserves that description because of its professionalism, its independence, its commitment to the laureates, its larger vision of where classical piano playing can fit into the modern way of life.

I was delighted to be asked to be part of the jury for the preliminary auditions, this year taking place around the world through live auditions. Along with my colleagues (picture), Martyn van den Hoek from the Netherlands, Quinten Peelen, the director, Balazs Szokolay from Budapest, and Muza Rubackyte of Lithuania, I’m traveling to Shanghai, Utrecht and New York to hear more than 80 young pianists in 20 minute programs that included an Etude, a Waltz and a freely selected work, all by Liszt, of course.

As I write, we have finished the Shanghai leg of our trip, and are awaiting a large number in Utrecht. Our experience in Shanghai was stimulating and highly successful - both culturally and musically. As this was the first time this competition has held live preliminary auditions, much of the structure had to be set up for the first time. Fortunately, the director had great contacts in Shanghai who cleared the path to very successful auditions.

The Shanghai Concert Hall was the site of the event, and Rabobank of Holland was the corporate sponsor. We held a press conference, two evening audition sessions, and a concert where all four of us judges played for the Chinese audience. We were happily surprised with the turnout, which included about 20 journalists and photographers for the press conference, a few hundred listeners for each of the auditions, and a full house for the live radio broadcast concert.

The press conference was followed up by personal interviews with 3 different publications. My Chinese background and my (limited!) ability to communicate in Chinese was particularly intriguing for the journalists, so I was held over for many hours after the end of the press conference. The questions quickly turned to some of the more unusual aspects of my work, including my work with children and Deeper Piano Studies. The idea of practicing without the piano and using cooking for teaching purposes was very foreign to the Chinese mindset.

There is a stereotype of the Chinese pianist as being excessively trained in technique, which came about because the Chinese schools ARE highly focused on technical training. We could hear it in the playing of the candidates who performed here, in both positive and negative ways.

I think the DPS approach to practicing and performing would fill a great niche here in particular. The short history of Western Classical music in China means that there is little cultural context for understanding the musical content. At the same time, the physical execution is not dependent on cultural understanding, and so it is quite natural that this would become the focus of Asian pianists.

The study of theory and history is making its way through the music schools in China, and the information is becoming integrated to the point where a new generation has grown up with these concepts internalized, and not just learned by rote. However, the emotional content of the music has yet to make its way fully into their performances.

Kodaly was asked the question, “when should a child start listening to music in order to have a deep connection with music? When he is in the womb?” Kodaly’s answer was: “When his mother is in the womb.” I think there is a great truth in that response, and the fact is that China is now entering a period where some mothers have heard music in the womb and are nurturing natural talents in Classical music.

The concert with the four judges was another highlight of the trip. The program was a perfect all-Liszt program, with examples from four important facets of Liszt’s work. This well-rounded program was a happy coincidence of the diverse tastes and backgrounds of the four judges. Balasz Szokolay played a number of pieces from Liszt’s late period - brooding, spiritual, harmonically experimental and sometimes strange. Muza Rubackyte - whom I knew previously from my time in Paris and from the trial by fire which is the Newport Festival! - played a majestic version of the Vallee d’Obermann, from Liszt’s middle years of great philosophic and physical exaltation. I chose two transcriptions - the Standchen of Schubert and the first movement of the Beethoven Fifth Symphony - a nod to the broad curiosity and generosity of Liszt. Finally, Martyn van den Hoek performed a stunningly virtuoso Totentanz, from Liszt’s virtuoso repertoire.

The non-musical moments of the Shanghai trip were filled with visits to the silk market - for tailor-made concert outfits that you will see on me in the future - and the pearl market, plus a number of excellent restaurants where we feasted on sea cucumbers, duck tongues, roast pork, dozens of variations on noodles and even Foie gras (in a French restaurant!). A chinese foot massage by a blind masseur closed our much too short stay in this city. I’m looking forward to my next time back!