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2009
The year 2009 was very special: AAF existed for 10 years. To celebrate this anniversary, a special Reception for all Participants was offered to six selected international piano competitions taking place in 2009. (In December 2008, a Notary randomly selected these six.)
December 2009: Gustav was still in China, on the jury for the first int'l competition for non-professional pianists in Tianjin. After a few days at home, he went to Bonn (Germany), for the finals of the Beethoven Competition (AAF). Later in the month, Gustav went to Dortmund, where he had a meeting. On the way, he visited Notary Mr. D.L. Rang, who conducted the official draw, which decided which eight competitions will receive AAF's offer of support in organising a special reception for all the participants in 2010. In December, much time was spent on the new AAF catalogue which will be printed in January. On New Year's Eve, Gustav went to Brussels, to see Martha Argerich. They talked about the past and the future, and toasted on the New Year.
November 2009: Gustav returned home from the Ukraine, but fell ill. He recovered on time to travel to Japan, having been invited to attend the last week of the Hamamatsu Int'l Piano Competition (AAF). From Hamamatsu, he travelled to China, where he joined the jury for the first int'l competition for non-professional pianists in Tianjin.
October 2009: Gustav had plans, but was unable to travel to Paris, for the Marguerite Long Competition (AAF), to Darmstadt, for the Chopin Competition (AAF), nor to Bayreuth or Weimar (Germany) for the Liszt Competition (AAF). However, he did go to Odessa (Ukraine), where he attended the last five days of the Emil Gilels Competition.
September 2009: Gustav was in Dortmund (Germany), where various decisions were made by AAF Board members, regarding the Receptions for Participants, to be held in 2010. So many competitions were taking place in September, that Gustav did his best to follow them all, by phone, e-mail and internet. Later in September, Gustav has plans to travel to Dresden (Germany), to take a look at the Anton Rubinstein Competition.
August 2009: On August 22nd, Gustav attended the famous Prinsengrachtconcert in Amsterdam. One week later, he travelled to Leeds (England), to attend the last two days of the Leeds International Piano Competition. Also in August, two AAF member competitions will host the AAF reception, intended for all contestants: the George Enescu Competition (AAF) in Bucharest and the PTNA Competition (AAF) in Tokyo.
July 2009: Gustav was in Aachen (Germany), to attend the Prix Amadeo International Piano Competition (AAF).
June 2009: Gustav was in Zurich for the Geza Anda Competition. Mid June, he spent 5 days in Tromso (Norway), to attend the first "Top of the World" International Piano Competition (AAF) (which attracted 361 applicants from all over the world - absolutely unique for a competition which was announced less than a year ago).
May 2009: Gustav was in Brussels, where he heard several performances in the first round of the Queen Elisabeth Competition (AAF) which is for violin this year. He also visited Martha Argerich, and will be back in Brussels, probably more than once this month. Gustav went to Munich, for a special meeting with Richard Carpenter (one of the members of the AAF Recommendation Committee). Although on his mind, Gustav was unable to be in Paris, for the FLAME Competition. Gustav has also been invited to the Van Cliburn Competition (AAF) in Fort Worth (USA), but also had to turn down this invitation - very much to his regret - due to some tiredness and much work in the AAF office.
April 2009: Gustav was in Ettlingen, for the prizewinners concert of the International for Young Pianists (AAF) on April 1st. The next day he talked about the relation between the Ettlingen Competition and AAF during a Press Conference. Later in the month, he was in Germany again, but regretfully he could not make it to London for the London International Piano Competition.
March 2009: Gustav is still busy sending many copies of the new AAF catalogue to pianists and organisers all over the world. Later in the month, he was still hoping to come to France, to attend a few international competitions (possibly in Paris, Epinal and/or Merignac ...), but he had to postpone his travelling a bit more. This month, the Piano Open Competiton in Merignac (France) had AAF's support for organising a nice Reception for all the participants in the international competition.
February 2009: Gustav is catching up with all the work which stayed behind since January. On February 5th, he travelled to Belgium and France. He made a stop in Brussels, and then arrived in Pontoise (near Paris), where he attended the Piano Campus Competition (AAF). On the way, he also distributed and sent many copies of the new AAF catalogue. After this trip, he will have several meetings in the Netherlands, and then he will go to Germany. The end of the month, he regretted very much to be unable to travel to Weimar, for the Franz Liszt Competition for Young Pianists (AAF).
January 2009: the year started a bit difficult: Gustav was not feeling well due to a disturbing cold and some fever, but he managed to finish the new AAF catalogue: 128 pages full of useful information about all the AAF competitions. As soon as the catalogue came out, the big work started to send out copies to pianists, teachers and competitions worldwide. The catalogue will continue to be freely available to anyone interested. The end of January, Gustav had still in mind to travel to Hannover, to attend part of the auditions for the Van Cliburn Competition, but since he did not have fully recovered, he had to cancel this. The USasu Boesendorfer Competition (AAF) in Tempe (Arizona, USA), was the first competition this year to receive AAF's support in organising a Reception for all the Participants.
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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.
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