Gustav is nearly always travelling. (To avoid the perhaps obvious thought that some people might have: his trips are not sponsored by the Alink-Argerich Foundation.)
Below, an overview of the travelling that Gustav made in 2002
(Click here to return to 2008) (2007) (2006) (2005) (2004) (2003) (2001)
In December 2002, Gustav was back in Paris, for the Concours de Piano
organised by Animato. It became so cold that he planned to stay home for
the rest of the month, and to work a lot on the new book and to continue
providing services and information.
The last week of November, Gustav was invited to Greece, to observe the Konzerteum International Piano Competition which is held every year in Piraeus, and which usually attracts more than one hundred contestants. Coming home, he had to drop his idea to visit also the international piano competition in Geneva (Switzerland).
The beginning of November, Gustav briefly visited New York and travelled to Toronto, where he attended a very special concert, arranged by Yamaha Canada, given by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, and with Martha Argerich and the Oscar Peterson trio.
In October, Gustav attended the second international piano competition in Enschede, in his home country. He also planned to visit China again, for the international Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Xiamen. The Chinese Embassy was very helpful, but the competition organisation did not send him any answer to his question how he could travel to Xiamen the easiest. Time was getting short and Gustav decided not to go there, much to his regret. Later in the month, he attended the excellent concert Yun-di Li gave in Utrecht. (He was the first-prize winner of the Chopin Competition, Warsaw 2000.)
In September, Gustav went to Paris for a few days, meeting people and doing research. A huge amount of competitions take place in Italy, and Gustav could not resist the temptation to visit some of them: he went to see the ones in Sulmona, Parma and Monza, and made appointments to visit the secretariats of other competitions in between. He spent uncountable hours and several nights on the trains in Italy and France. In order to arrive home from Monza (through France), he sat on the train for 26 hours. After two days at home, he left again, to visit the Piano Academy near Como (Italy once again) where Alicia de Larrocha gave masterclasses. On the way back, he stopped by in Darmstadt, for the European Chopin Competition in that city.
For the rest of the month September (whatever was left of it), he tried to stay at home, and monitored all that was happening by phone, fax and e-mail. He took time to serve others with all kinds of information. Furthermore - quite important - he also needed to sit down, to get on with his new book on piano competitions.
In August, Gustav was in Salzburg and Duszniki (Chopin-Festival where prizewinners of important International Piano Competitions perform). Then, he heard some performances in the Competition for Young Pianists in Ettlingen (Germany). After only a few days at home, he continued his travels to Salzburg and Vienna for the Wiener Pianisten-Wettbewerb, and then to Italy, for the Busoni Competition and Festival in Bolzano, where he had a long talk with Martha Argerich. On the way to Italy, he stopped in Vresse s/Semois (Belgium) for the 2nd international piano competition which is becoming more and more interesting. He also made his traditional stop at the Brahms Competition in Pörtschach (Austria). Also on the way back to Holland, he made a stop in Brussels, where Martha took good care of him.
The beginning of July, Gustav was in Cincinnati (U.S.A.) for the World Piano Competition. He reviewed all performances in the Artists' Division and his comments were published on the competition's web site: www.amsa-wpc.org. Mid July, he was in Switzerland and the end of July he was in Salzburg. Due to too much travelling and the constant preparations of his new book, he decided not to attend the piano competition in Santander (Spain).
In June, Gustav was at the Casagrande Competition in Terni (Italy), and he also stopped by a few other Italian competitions, such as the ones in Napoli (Pausilypon-Denza) and Cesenatico.
Gustav gave up his initial idea to perform miracles later in the month of June, to be in Moscow, Salt Lake City and Italy almost at the same time. To his own regret he decided to skip the Tchaikovsky Competition, mainly because of the totally discouraging and time-and-money-consuming visa procedure. He chose to attend the annual meeting of the Federation (in Reggio Emilia, Italy), and made a stop in Lugano (Switzerland), to listen to part of the first Martha Argerich Festival in that city. The last week of June still had the Bach Competition in Leipzig (Germany) on the calendar, but in view of his following trip to the U.S.A. it was getting too much.
In May, Gustav was back in London for two days, and then in Paris for a meeting and research. In Italy, he attended the international piano competition in Cantu. Later in the month, he was at several other international piano competitions in Italy: Taranto, Lamezia Terme, Racconigi and Terni.
The beginning of April, Gustav was in Utrecht (the Netherlands) for the Franz Liszt Competition. In April, he also went to London to get a glimpse of the London International Piano Competition. The end of April had Spain on his agenda, where the international piano competitions in Barcelona (Maria Canals), Madrid (Nueva Acropolis) Carlet and Berga were held, almost simultaneously. But ... having caught a cold which was not easily cured, he had to force himself to stay at home. Much to his regret, because he had looked forward very much to meeting with the organisers, jury members and pianists, among whom some good friends. The positive side was that he could work more at home, preparing his next book.
The beginning of March, Gustav was in Antwerp (Belgium) for the Emmanuel Durlet International Piano Competition, and in Brussels, visiting Martha Argerich. The middle of March, he went to Paris and Saint Nom-la-Bretèche, for piano competitions and special concerts. The end of March, Gustav gave a lecture in Tokyo during the World Piano Conference organised by the Piano Teachers' National Association of Japan (PTNA).
The beginning of February Gustav travelled "down" to South Africa, to attend the International Music Competition organised by UNISA in Pretoria.
The end of February, he was in France again, attending one of the auditions for the Santander Competition in Paris, and the international piano competition that focuses on 20th Century repertoire in Orléans.
In January 2002, Gustav travelled to Salzburg to attend the International Mozart Competition, and then to Paris, where he served on the jury for the International Competition for Amateur Pianists (the Concours International de Piano des Grands Amateurs.) He also went to UNESCO to check out the MIDO International Music Competition, but had some remarkable surprise ... (see his report on the page "Latest News"). On the way back home, he stopped in Brussels to meet with Martha Argerich who is in excellent spirit, and has more than enough plans again for the rest of the year. They talked for many hours, and once again their encounter proved to be most inspiring and will result in new initiatives.
(Click here to see which places and countries Gustav visited in 2001.)
You may leave a message for Gustav Alink at his home tel.: (+31) 70 - 3634760 which he will check frequently.
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