Date and time: Sunday, February 21, 2027,
Concert time: 2:15pm – 3:30pm
Masterclass time: 4:00pm – 5:30pm
Venue: Berkeley Piano Club, 2724 Haste St., Berkeley CA 94704
Admission: Free and open to the public
Masterclass participants: the three First Place Winners from the Showcase Piano Solo events and two Alternate Winners.
The 2027 Adjudicator Showcase pairs a masterclass and a concert with pianist Dr. Ilya Blinov, our Coordinator of Adjudicator. Both are free and open to the public.
The Concert
The program is Tchaikovsky’s The Seasons: twelve character pieces, one for each month from January to December. Tchaikovsky wrote them for a St. Petersburg music magazine, which published one piece each month through 1876. In Russia the set is a staple of the piano repertoire. In the US it is far less familiar.
“I’d like to change that,” Dr. Blinov says. “How do Russian seasons compare to those in California? When it comes to winter, it’s obvious. But what about the other three? How are they different or similar? How did Tchaikovsky portray them? And how should we play this music, living in a land of eternal summer?”
The Masterclass
Dr. Blinov will work with five students in front of an audience: the three First Place Winners from the Showcase Piano Solo events and two Alternate Winners. All five receive monetary prizes. Format: each student performs a piece, then works with him
He remembers what it was like to be on the other side. “Being a student in a masterclass is nerve-racking. I remember working with Menahem Pressler and Ingrid Fliter in front of a full house. You feel so exposed! My advice: try to forget about the audience, and do your best to absorb a new perspective on a piece you’ve been playing for a long time.”
Participants can expect to hear him return to one idea in particular. “Music is sound in motion. Most students forget the second part of that equation. How the music moves can drastically change the character of a piece. It’s so exciting to change a lot by doing a little.”
Dr. Blinov is a Russian-American pianist based in the Bay Area, with a DMA from the University of Michigan and performances in Rome, Paris, and Detroit.