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 ran 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 Rachmaninoff. 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 informed the early structure of the competition. It was she who stipulated that, in the second round (the semi-final) every pianist has to perform a Beethoven sonata. 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. In November 2021, the trustees of the Birmingham International Piano Competition and Birmingham City University formally completed an agreement to transfer responsibility for the competition to Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. The move marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the competition and the story of music in Birmingham, with this year's competition taking place in the Bradshaw Hall at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in summer 2024.
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 Rachmaninoff. 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 informed the early structure of the competition. It was she who stipulated that, in the second round (the semi-final) every pianist has to perform a Beethoven sonata. 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. In November 2021, the trustees of the Birmingham International Piano Competition and Birmingham City University formally completed an agreement to transfer responsibility for the competition to Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. The move marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the competition and the story of music in Birmingham, with this year's competition taking place in the Bradshaw Hall at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in summer 2024.