Music competitions and their paradoxes

Antoine Gilliéron in conversation with Stanislas Pili, contemporary musician and director of the Nicati competition.

Stanislas Pili, quel regard portez-vous sur les concours de musique et leurs ambiguïtés ?

For me, a music competition should first and foremost be a showcase where musicians have the opportunity to exhibit their work as artists. They will also have the opportunity to expand their network through contact with other participants and direct contact with renowned jurors. For the public, it's a spectacular experience because they attend high-level performances and there's an address line in the hall. However, while in a sporting competition we can calculate, for example, the time taken by a runner or even the number of shots, in a musical competition, on the other hand, the subjective parameters (musicality, etc...) and sometimes even the number of shots are always taken into account.) and sometimes even the objective parameters, such as a false note, can be compensated by subjective parameters, e.g. artistic presence. Consequently, the jury has an important responsibility because the laureates are the result of its opinion and not of a chronometer calculation. The candidates must therefore regard the competition as an opportunity to improve their own work and an occasion, beyond the prizes, to gain visibility.

En se focalisant à présent sur le concours Nicati que vous dirigez, en quoi celui-ci se singularise-t-il ?

It is the only Swiss national competition entirely dedicated to contemporary music. The candidates can choose between two categories: interpretation for soloists and ensembles performing works, of which at least one is Swiss, written from the second half of the 20th century and open space in which the candidates present a new creation that does not take the form of a conventional concert. The competition is open to all facets of contemporary music: in addition to instrumental and vocal pieces, it includes musical theater, sonic art, prepared instruments, electronic music, multimedia works, multidisciplinary spectacles and any other form of sonic experimentation and research chosen by the candidates. The Nicati Competition is a valuable contribution to the national music scene because it brings together, in a single event, many musicians and personalities dedicated to contemporary music in Switzerland. Thanks to free programs and new creations, it allows the public to discover the trends and trends in music of our time. For the 2023 edition of this competition, the Nicati - de Lucerne Foundation is actively preparing the Nicati 2023 competition. The Lucerne School of Music, partner of the event, will host the competition from 21 to 27 August 2023. The categories Interpretation and Open Space will be revisited in a new form. All the new features will be presented soon on the website www.nicati.ch.

At the instigation of the Geneva Competition, which this year proposes a concept of research for artists on a large scale with the presentation by the candidates of their project and the development of their musical personality over the long term, what developments would be welcome for the music competitions in general, and how do you see them?

In competitions, one often plays pieces containing several genres of difficult techniques and it is not rare, during the course of studies, to choose to work on certain specific pieces because they constitute a "competition repertoire". I think it would be important, in the future, to valorize and reward the personal artistic choices of musicians and to avoid stereotyping the repertoire. Sometimes, young musicians experience the frustration of having to perform certain works to perfection, while they are delighted with the idea of creating a piece, soundtracking a film, improvising, using digital devices, organizing a concert, carrying out a media project, etc... Thanks to their presence in the competitions, all these forms of expression can be officially considered as disciplines: they acquire prestige and make people realize, from a very young age, that there are many possibilities in today's world of music.