A Noteworthy Occasion

Santiago Rodriguez, 1975, after winning the Kapell.

TECHNICAL MASTERY, artistic presence, competitive drive, winners and losers. It’s a once-in four-year event. No, it’s not the Olympics—that’s a year away. Come this July, 30 young competitors (age 18 to 33) from around the world will vie for a $25,000 First Place prize in the William Kapell International Piano Competition at the University of Maryland.

Professor of Music Santiago Rodriguez knows firsthand the pressures and glory of competition.The Cuban-born pianist earned First Prize at the Kapell Competition in 1975, followed by the Silver Medal at the Van Cliburn International Competition in 1981, which propelled him into an international career with such leading orchestras as the Chicago Symphony, the London Symphony and the Tokyo Symphony.

School of Music colleagues Santiago Rodriguez (left and above) and Donald Manildi pose in IPAM.

Kapell’s Legacy Preserved William Kapell is widely regarded as the first great American pianist. Unfortunately, his career ended tragically. Returning from a tour of Australia, Kapell died in a plane crash in Los Angeles on Oct. 29, 1953. He was 31 years old. Most of his recordings live on in the International Piano Archives at Maryland (IPAM), home to 97 percent of all commercial classical piano recordings. With more than 15,000 scores of piano music; documentation of the lives and careers of many eminent concert pianists; an audio preservation studio; and two specialized pianos capable of playing back live performances, it is an unmatched treasure-trove for piano aficionados. IPAM’s curator, Donald Manildi, is also a member of the jury judging this year’s competition. Santiago Rodriguez, professor of music, describes his colleague as possessing encyclopedic knowledge of composers and the artists who have performed their works. —DB For a complete listing of events, visit www.claricesmithcenter.org/kapell.

“Unlike other art forms, the concert pianist is the medium through which the composer speaks to the audience,” says Rodriguez, who is considered one of the foremost interpreters of Sergei Rachmaninov. Currently in the midst of recording the entire catalog of Rachmaninov’s solo piano compositions, he realizes how much his understanding and interpretation of the music has changed over time.“A true career is something that you look back on, not forward,” says Rodriguez.

Now he is heading the seven-member jury that will determine the fate—and careers—of top winners in the Kapell. Rodriguez is particularly proud of one change that he implemented in this year’s judging. Jury members will have no advance information about the 30 contestants. Each will be judged solely on the performance given on the stage—a move Rodriguez says the contestants like because it eliminates bias.

It doesn’t alleviate the nerve-wracking schedule. All 30 contestants will have the opportunity to play 20 minutes from the solo program they submitted with their application. Of these, nine will be invited to perform an hour’s program that includes a combination of solo and piano portions of concerto works of the jury’s choice. They will also perform a chamber work for trio with the resident ensemble. For the final round, three competitors will perform a concerto, selected by the jury, to be played with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Says Rodriguez, “Every member of the jury knows what it feels like to be on the other side.” Let’s hope that is some comfort to the contestants. —DB

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