The History of the Competition
The story begins in 1979, when Gladys Lily Brant, who was born on 25 March 1915, founded the Robert William and Florence Amy Brant Pianoforte Competition in memory of her parents. Not only did she provide the annual prize money, she also solicited sponsorship to cover the cost of administration. Having a business background, she was a formidable administrator and ran the competition herself until she reached her late eighties. At that point she handed the administration over to Town Hall Symphony Hall, which now runs it on behalf of – and in association with – the trustees of the charity.
Miss Brant was a passionate music-lover with a remarkable memory for the Town Hall concerts that she had attended – even those in her youth, among them a recital by Rachmaninov. Particularly devoted to Beethoven’s music, and no mean pianist herself, she played one of his piano sonatas each day, habitually working her way through all thirty-two in chronological order. She was also an enthusiastic supporter of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Miss Brant’s knowledge of keyboard music informs the structure of the competition. It was she who stipulated that, in the first round, every competitor must play either a Prelude and Fugue from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier or a sonata by Domenico Scarlatti, plus a study by Chopin, Debussy, Liszt, Rachmaninov or Scriabin. In the second round (the semi-final) every pianist has to perform a Beethoven sonata and a piece written since 1960, while in the final round each competitor plays music by three composers of her/his own choice. The final thus consists of three solo recitals, a distinctive feature of a competition that has helped many a young pianist pursue a performing career.
Miss Brant died on 7 October 2011 at the age of 96.
In 2017 the trustees decided to change the name of the competition to ‘Birmingham International Piano Competition’. The first competition under this title took place in the summer of 2018.
Miss Brant was a passionate music-lover with a remarkable memory for the Town Hall concerts that she had attended – even those in her youth, among them a recital by Rachmaninov. Particularly devoted to Beethoven’s music, and no mean pianist herself, she played one of his piano sonatas each day, habitually working her way through all thirty-two in chronological order. She was also an enthusiastic supporter of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.
Miss Brant’s knowledge of keyboard music informs the structure of the competition. It was she who stipulated that, in the first round, every competitor must play either a Prelude and Fugue from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier or a sonata by Domenico Scarlatti, plus a study by Chopin, Debussy, Liszt, Rachmaninov or Scriabin. In the second round (the semi-final) every pianist has to perform a Beethoven sonata and a piece written since 1960, while in the final round each competitor plays music by three composers of her/his own choice. The final thus consists of three solo recitals, a distinctive feature of a competition that has helped many a young pianist pursue a performing career.
Miss Brant died on 7 October 2011 at the age of 96.
In 2017 the trustees decided to change the name of the competition to ‘Birmingham International Piano Competition’. The first competition under this title took place in the summer of 2018.