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2007
Gustav is nearly always travelling. (To avoid the perhaps obvious thought that some people might have: his trips to attend competitions are not sponsored by the Alink-Argerich Foundation.)
December 2007: Gustav was in Bonn, at the end of the semifinals of the Beethoven Competition (AAF) there. He stopped by in Dortmund, and was in Brussels as well. In between, much time is spent to finish the new AAF catalogue which will offer much information again about all the AAF member competitions. (This new catalogue will come out in January 2008, and will cover the years 2008-2009-2010.)
November 2007: the beginning of the month, Gustav was still in Japan, recovering from a slight cold. After returning home, he left again the next day to Poland, where he attended the first stage of the Paderewski Competition (AAF) in Bydgoszcz, and spent half a day in Warsaw, having several meetings. During his stay in Poland, Gustav gave two lectures on piano competitions, one in Bydgoszcz and one in Poznan. Upon returning home, he had to recover again from pain in the stomach and his throat. Yet, Gustav still travelled to Madrid, where he attended the finals of the Spanish Composers International Piano Competition (AAF). In between, there was (and still is) much contact with the AAF member competitions that will be presented in the new edition of the AAF catalogue.
October 2007: Gustav continues the preparation of the new AAF office, and will travel to China to attend the 4th China International Piano Competition in Xiamen. From there, he will travel to Japan, before returning home in November.
September 2007: Gustav was in Bucarest for the beginning of the George Enescu Competition (AAF). A few days later, he was in Glasgow, to hear the semifinals of the Scottish International Piano Competition. Gustav continued his travels to Brussels, and was the next day in Oslo for the Grieg Competition (AAF)). Later in the month, Gustav attended part of the Schubert Competition in Dortmund (AAF), and he was also in Utrecht (the Netherlands) to hear several candidates in the auditions for the International Franz Liszt Competition (AAF) which will take place in April 2008. In between, Gustav was busy with all preparations for the new office that AAF will occupy from October 2007.
August 2007: the beginning of August, Gustav was in Cleveland (Ohio, USA) for the finals of the Cleveland Int'l Piano Competition. He then went to Manchester, where he attended the conclusion of the first Int'l Piano Concerto Competition for Young Pianists, and where he gave a lecture at the opening of the Festival at Chetham (Manchester). Later in the month, Gustav had to cancel his plans to come to Salzburg again, Poertschach (Brahms Competition), and to attend a few days of the Busoni Competition in Bolzano (Italy). Instead, he needed the time to prepare new space for AAF and to complete many formalities.
July 2007: Gustav was returning home from Moscow, where he had attended the Tchaikovsky Competition (AAF). He spent one night in Copenhagen, due to an overbooked SAS flight. The rest of July, Gustav travelled a bit less, as much administrative work had to be done as well as preparations for improvements and additions to AAF's website.
June 2007: until June 3rd, Gustav was still in Brussels, attending the conclusion of the Queen Elisabeth Competition (AAF). Straight from Brussels he went to Utrecht to attend a concert by Evgeny Kissin. The second week of June, Gustav is in Japan, visiting Tokyo and the International Music Competition in Sendai (AAF). Later in the month, he will be in Moscow for the Tchaikovsky Competition (AAF).
May 2007: From Germany, Gustav flew to Rome in Italy. He went to Terni for a few days where many competition organisers came together for the General Assembly of the WFIMC (the World Federation of International Music Competitions). On certain days during the second and third week in May, Gustav will be in Brussels for the Queen Elisabeth Competition (AAF). On those occasions, he also visited Martha Argerich several times. On May 20th, Gustav was in Amsterdam for a special concert on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the series Recitals by Master Pianists in the Concertgebouw, organised by Marco Riaskoff, in which Nelson Freire performed magnificently and which was attended by the members of the Royal Family. Between May 23-27, Gustav was be in Finland, attending the Maj Lind Competition (AAF) in Helsinki, and before the end of the month, he is back in Brussels again for the finals of the Queen Elisabeth Competition (AAF).
April 2007: the beginning of April, Gustav went to Paris for the Competition Prix Animato (AAF). On the way back home, he stopped over in Brussels and talked with Martha Argerich, who was getting ready to travel to South Korea and Japan. Later in the month, Gustav flew to Kiev (Ukraine) where he attended the Horowitz Competition for a few days. The end of the month, Gustav was in Germany, giving a lecture in Frankfurt. He would also have attended the Clara Schumann Competition (AAF) in Duesseldorf, if the competition had not been cancelled.
March 2007: Gustav travelled to the U.S.A.. First, he visited the Hilton Head Int'l Piano Competition (AAF). From there, he went to New York. On March 14 and 15, he gave a seminar at the Yamaha Artist Services. For one of the presentations Alexander Kobrin joined him, who won the Van Cliburn Competition in 2005. (Kobrin also gave Masterclasses in New York.) Due to the snowstorm and heavy weather conditions, Gustav had a difficult time leaving New York. Back in Europe, he briefly attended the competition in Epinal (France). He also went to Amsterdam, where he took a look at the biggest national piano competition in the Netherlands, organised by the Young Pianists Foundation (YPF), just before travelling to Tokyo, where PTNA (AAF) celebrated its 40 years of existence with a special concert given by three of their top winners: Rina Sudo, Ichiro Kaneko and Shohei Sekimoto.
February 2007: Gustav continues with the distribution of the new AAF catalogue. He was in Dortmund (Germany), from where he sent hundreds copies of the catalogue (more than 100 kilo mail), and attended the special birthday party of Arnulf von Arnim (pianist and organiser of the Schubert Competition (AAF) in Dortmund) who turned 60. From 9-11 February, Gustav was in Pontoise (France) where he attended the Piano Campus Competition (AAF). Naturally, he was also in Paris. Later in the month, Gustav was in Utrecht (Holland), for the concert of Yuja Wang (who was a child prodigy, and won 3th prize at the first Competition in Sendai, 2001). At age 20, she now has a already a great career. In Holland, she played Tchaikovsky with the St. Petersburg Filharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov.
January 2007: Gustav finished the new AAF catalogue, and was busy packing and with sending many copies. This catalogue has 80 pages full of useful information about all the AAF competitions. The catalogue is freely available and is distributed worldwide.
In 2007, many piano competitions are taking place again. Every month, Gustav will attend at least one or two. Naturally, he will be in Brussels for the Queen Elisabeth Competition, but also on his calendar for the first half year of 2007 are visits to Pontoise, Hilton Head, New York, Paris, Kiev, Duesseldorf, and Italy.
Gustav will also invest time in an upgrade of AAF's website, in order to make it more professional, better readable, more attractive. The website will be given several new features, thus becoming still more functional, allowing our visitors even more access to important competition details and insight into fascinating facts.
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You may leave a message for Gustav Alink at his home tel.: (+31) 70 - 3634760 which he will check frequently, or send a fax to: (+31) 70 - 3652513.
Make sure to visit this web site every now and then, in order not to miss anything! Or join AAF to have all your personal questions and interests dealt with.
