Below, an overview of the travelling that Gustav made in 2003
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In December 2003, Gustav tried to stay home as much as possible. He needed all the time to finish the preparations for the Japanese guide book to International Music Competitions which is planned to be published in Spring 2004. December 10th, Gustav went to Amsterdam, to see and hear Martha Argerich. She played two piano concertos on one evening (Beethoven 1 and Ravel)! Between rehearsal and concert, and also after the concert, they had some good moments to talk and to catch up with "all" that had happened recently. Gustav regrets that it was impossible for him to go to Paris for the auditions for the second International Piano-e-Competition which will be held in Minneapolis, May 2004.
November was another month full of interesting piano events abroad. Gustav first travelled to Shanghai for the second Shanghai International Piano Competition, where he also gave a lecture. After Shanghai, he was in Japan during 2,5 weeks, attending the Hamamatsu international piano competition.
The beginning of October, Gustav was still in Taipei, and came back to Europe, October 6th. The next day, he drove to Bremen, to see how the 'Bremer Klavierwettbewerb' was organised. After not having been home for 2,5 weeks, he needed time to get many things finished, and to process all information, news and materials gathered during his travelling. It thus proved impossible to fly to Mexico, where a new competition took place (in Monterrey), and it was also impossible for him to make a quick trip to Rome and Agropoli, to see the competitions there, mid October.
September is a busy month in terms of competitions. Gustav went to Leeds for a few days and
attended most of the Schubert Competition in Dortmund. By phone, he kept
in touch with the competitions in Bucharest (Roumania, Enescu), Oslo
(Grieg Competition), Seregno (for the Pozzoli Competition)
and
the ones in Vilnius (Ciurlionis) and Pescara. It was simply
impossible to be at all these places at the same time.
He was in Taipei between September 27th and October 5th,
as a guest of the first TIPC (Taiwan International Piano Competition).
In August, Gustav visited various countries in Europe, delivering his new book 'Piano Competitions Worldwide' to various music centres. He made a stop in Munich and Salzburg and then attended the Brahms competition in Poertschach (Austria), the "Busoni" in Bolzano (Italy), the "Clara Haskil" in Vevey, the "Music World" Festival and Competition in Fivizzano and the competition in Varallo Sesia (Italy).
The first 9 days of July, Gustav was still in Cincinnati. On his return trip to The Netherlands, he passed by New York, where he visited Gyorgy Sandor who is now 91 years old. Gustav then spent two days at home before he went to Lisbon for the finals of the Vendome Prize. He was also invited to participate in the panel discussion on Music Competitions in the 21st Century which took place on the final day (July 25th) of the William Kapell Competition in College Park (USA), so he returned to the USA the same month.
The first week of June was entirely devoted to the finals of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. Then, Gustav went to the competition in Pianello Val Tidone (Italy), and from there to Zurich (Switzerland), for the Geza Anda competition. The World Music Masters competition in Monte Carlo (Monaco) was next on the list, and then Gustav flew home from Nice. The end of June, Gustav left for the U.S.A., where he was a guest at the World Piano Competition in Cincinnati (June 29-July 9).
May was mainly reserved for visits to the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. The Seiler competition in Kitzingen was also visited. Due to Gustav's recently published book on Piano Competitions Worldwide, there is the necessary attention of the media, which is good, but being available for interviews also limits his time for travelling. The beginning of May, he attended the annual meeting of the WFIMC (World Federation of International Music Competitions, 7-9 May) which was held in Poznan (Poland) this year. Between the sessions in Brussels, Gustav spent one day in Paris, where Martha Argerich happened to give a concert at the Theatre de Chatelet together with Lilya Zilberstein, replacing Radu Lupu.
In April, Gustav was invited to come back to Kiev (Horowitz Competition), and to the third China International Piano Competition in Beijing (China). He was in Kiev only at the beginning of the competition (April 18-22). He did not go to China, because that competition has been postponed.
In March, he attended the famous "Musikmesse" in Frankfurt for one day, and he spent several days in France, giving a lecture at the Festival at Moulin d'Ande, and took a quick look at some of the many competitions in and around Paris (Magin and Steinway). On the way back, he made a stop in Brussels, to catch up with Martha Argerich, and they talked for six hours. The end of March, Gustav was at the 19th international piano competition in Epinal (France), and spent the rest of the time in March finishing his new book on piano competitions worldwide which should be available in May.
In February, Gustav travelled to Budapest and Zagreb (Svetislav Stancic Competition).
In January, Gustav was back in Paris, where he joined the jury for the International Piano Competition for outstanding Amateurs. On the day of the finals, three international piano competitions were being held in and near Paris ... Gustav managed to see two of them. The last day of January, Gustav made several visits in Belgium.
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