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Markus Wyler
Art Managment
Workshop
SENSE AND NONSENSE OF MUSIC COMPETITIONS
Every musician has probably undergone the challenges, or – if you will - tortures of competitions at various stages of his or her career. Music competitions are respected, admired, feared, despised and sneered at. But we cannot really do without them.
The Concours Géza Anda is considered one of the most respected and difficult international piano competitions, and has been carried out in Zurich every three years since 1979. What makes it special is that the Géza Anda-Foundation commits to providing all of its laureates with free artistic management services and mentorship for three years following each edition.
I will talk about some of the questions that I think about as the organiser of this demanding competition, but also my expectations towards potential candidates, while passing by the some of the famous questions such as rules, repertoire and juries, objectivity and subjectivity, applications and selection, and what happens to competitors after the competition.
The topics are general and can therefore be of interest for non-pianists as well.
Biography
On completing his studies in English and Russian at the Universities of Zurich and Aberdeen, Markus Wyler became a member of Zurich Opera, where he worked as a dramaturg for 12 years. The next 10 years of his professional career he spent as general manager of Cecilia Bartoli, with whom he still collaborates closely. Today, he benefits from his unique experience in conceiving, organizing and propagating comprehensive projects in the field of music as a free-lance dramaturg, author, artistic advisor and organizer of concerts for the Salzburg Festival, Monte-Carlo Opera, Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik, Zurich Opera, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Philharmonie de Paris, Decca Classics, the Moscow State Philharmonic Society and the Trans-Siberian Art Festival, amongst others. He is also secretary general of the Géza Anda Piano Foundation in Zurich. Moreover, he enjoys teaching and lecturing about various aspects of his profession at the Universities of Innsbruck and Zurich, the Accademia Teatro alla Scala, the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, Diaghilev Festival, Perm, Wagner Society Milan, and both at the Opera House and Music Conservatory of Novosibirsk.
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