In this Sonatas & Soundscapes interview that aired Wednesday, March 5th, host Bradley Fuller speaks with Hilton Head International Piano Competition Director Steve Shaiman about the 2025 adult artist competition, including new collaborations with a contemporary composer and regional orchestras.
TRANSCRIPT:
FULLER: Steve, so great to be speaking again!
SHAIMAN: Thank you so much! Thanks for having me.
FULLER: Another Hilton Head International Piano Competition is upon us, and this year, following a young artist competition in 2023 and the BravoPiano! Festival in 2024, it's time for the adult piano competition. What's the age range for adults in this competition?
SHAIMAN: Yes, so this is what we call the “Main Event” because this is how our competition started way back when. This is for pianists who are ages 18 to 30—so the adult competition. And this, in total, will be our 27th Hilton Head International Piano Competition, counting all of them that we've done since our founding. This will be Number 27.
FULLER: Quite a range of competitions there and things that you've seen over the years, things have happened over the years. And as you would expect for an international competition, or a competition with the word “international” in it, these performers are indeed from around the world. So how many countries are represented?
SHAIMAN: Yes, well we have 20 competitors as always. And this year our 20 competitors come from 10 different countries. And there’s actually one competitor who represents two countries in one because he's got dual citizenship. So that's how we got to 10. It's a varied list—of course we have the United States and Canada, but we also have [South] Korea, China, Taiwan, Croatia, Poland, Switzerland, and Germany. And this, we believe, is the first time we've ever actually had a competitor from Croatia, so we had to invest in a Croatian flag for our display of flags that we will have on stage during the competition.
FULLER: That's always a nice visual in addition to, of course, the beautiful piano at which these performers are seated.
What's the process like for one of these 20 competitors to even make it to the competition? I understand, you know, just making it is itself quite a challenge.
SHAIMAN: Yeah, absolutely. I mean we really in many ways can already consider all 20 of them to be winners. They started out back in the fall. The deadline was the end of September, so they actually were applying through the summer into the end of September. We had a total of 193 applicants ranging from 30 different countries around the world. So we started with that pool of 193 and then, bless their hearts, our wonderful selection jury (who are three wonderful piano professionals) would screen all of the videos that were supplied by those 193, and they scored them.
And then we slowly whittled down the list by process of elimination. You know, the cream rose to the top, as it were, and we had our 20 competitors. And then they also selected nine alternates because, inevitably, there's always, you know, one or two competitors that, for whatever reason, are not able to come. So we always have to have some alternates on standby just in case.
FULLER: That’s the process of how they got to this upcoming week. Once the competition gets underway on March 10th, what's the lineup of events? What can these competitors expect to be doing? Kind of walk me through the lineup.
SHAIMAN: Sure, well, the first two rounds are a short recitals which all 20 competition get to perform. So those are non-elimination rounds. In round one, they each perform a 25-minute recital. In round two, they each perform a 30-minute recital. Of course, different repertoire in both rounds.
And one of the new, exciting developments that we have for the very first time this year is: we decided for our contemporary music element that, like many big competitions, we would commission a brand new work from a prominent composer that each competitor would be tasked to learn and interpret completely on their own. I mean this is a piece that has never been performed before—never been recorded. So they really have to rely on their own musical instincts to basically try to figure out what the composer was trying to say and then be the vessel for that composer's voice. So, in a sense, we're going to hear 20 different world premieres of this work.
And I should mention, of course, the composer who is the great American composer Lowell Lieberman—a trained pianist himself who's a prolific composer. This piece that he wrote for us is called Moment Musical—a musical moment—and it's his Opus 144. So he's approaching 150 works total in his oeuvre for his career. And we're delighted that he wrote this piece for us. It's roughly six and a half to seven minutes in length and the competitors have a choice to perform it either in round one or round two based on what other pieces they’re offering in those rounds.
FULLER: I think that's just incredible. First off, the name of the piece takes me back to some of the music of Schubert and Rachmaninoff—
SHAIMAN: Exactly.
FULLER: —who wrote their own Moments Musicaux (to use the plural). But I think it's also just fascinating because when you have performers at this level and each of them are bringing some of their favorite pieces in their repertoire, I mean, you can just be almost dizzied by the incredible variety. So this kind of gives a—it seems like it gives a certain commonality to it all and maybe a way to really compare performers who have such different gifts
SHAIMAN: Yes, I think it's really exciting. From the anecdotal feedback I've been getting from some of them, they seem to be really enjoying learning it and absorbing it. And they're not required to memorize it—some will play it from memory, others will use the score. And it's not a problem for them to use the score.
And I'm just fascinated and excited to hear the 20 different interpretations. And then the added thing that we have, that I'm excited to say, is that we do have a special prize that we're offering to the “Best Performance” of the contemporary commissioned work that we have. And to me, the only person really qualified to make that choice is the composer himself. So we have him from his home in New York—he's going to watch all 20 videos from the livestream and basically make a selection of who he feels brings the piece to life the way he envisioned it.
FULLER: Well, aside from that prize by Lowell Lieberman and him judging his own piece and how it's performed, what else is on the line for these 20 musicians aged 18 to 30?
SHAIMAN: Yes, well the total prize pool in terms of the cash prizes in all is $43,000, which I'm happy to say is increased this year. The first prize itself is up to $20,000, the second prize winner gets $10,000, the third prize winner gets $5,000, and then the other three semi-finalists who do not advance to the finals, they each get $2000 dollars, which is also increased from the past. So I'm pleased that we've been able to find some additional donor money to increase those prizes.
But of course, that's just the beginning of what the first prize winner will get. There is, of course, the opportunity that they will get to come back next season and perform a full concerto with the Hilton Head Symphony and our Maestro John Morris Russell. But of course in addition to that, we're offering an amazing Carnegie Hall recital debut at Weill Recital Hall in New York in the fall. We rent the hall, we present it under our auspices, and have all kinds of great people coming from New York and many people flying up from Hilton Head—supporters of these artists who come from South Carolina and other parts of the country to support them and see that.
They also get a recording—a studio recording from the Steinway & Sons label, since Steinway is another one of our great supporters. They provide all of the pianos for the competition and they are our artistic partners so we're very grateful to them for that. Also, assuming that the winner does not already have professional management, they also get professional management services and mentorship from me—myself-- since that has been a big aspect of my career in the arts: managing artists.
And the other new thing this year: we've been trying to increase the number of performance opportunities that we're giving to them. So I'm very pleased to say that a number of organizations have agreed up front to offer performance prizes to the winner, including two South Carolina orchestras. We're particularly proud of that. One is the South Carolina Philharmonic in Columbia. They're going to offer a prize to the winner in the ’26-’27 season. And also the Greenville Symphony in Greenville, South Carolina is going to offer a concerto engagement next season to the winner. And then our good friends and neighbors in Savannah at the Savannah Music Festival are going to offer a recital to the winner in Spring of 2026.
So it's really exciting. Oh, and I must also mention—this one is just relatively new to the prize pool—I happened to have a lucky encounter with Tom Hicks, who's the new director of the College of Charleston Piano Department and the head of the International Piano Series that they have there at the College of Charleston. And he kindly agreed to offer a recital to our winner in the ’26-’27 season.
So we've got a number in South Carolina and people in the area, in the Lowcountry, who are offering recitals and concert performances to our winner. For artists at this stage of their career, money is nice, but what they really need are opportunities to perform and hone their craft and get out in front of audiences and be seen and be appreciated for their artistry.
FULLER: Is there any moment—you know, those are events and performance that will be a little farther in the future—but is there any moment in this competition week that you're really looking forward to? A kind of favorite, special time?
SHAIMAN: Oh gosh, there's so many of them. I mean the semi-finals is an exciting time, because at that point, the field is down to the top six. There are six artists selected Thursday night after the first two rounds are over. The jury picks those six. And then those artists come back on Saturday afternoon and evening. Each one gets to play a longer recital program. This one is 50 minutes. And again, all new repertoire based on stuff that they've already played. So we get to hear, you know, potentially a different side of their artistry.
And then Saturday night is a very big moment when the jury selects the final three. And those three finalists get to come back on Monday evening the 17th to play a full-length piano concerto with the HHSO and our maestro John Morris Russell.
FULLER: Steve, it sounds like a really exciting week lined up for not only all of these competitors coming from around the world, but also the audiences who will be enjoying their performances. Thanks so much for sharing about the 2025 HHIPC!
SHAIMAN: Thank you so much, thanks for having me. It's going to be a really exciting time. A lot of people at this time of year talk about March Madness—but in Hilton Head, March Madness means the International Piano Competition!
FULLER: [laughter] I love it! Thanks so much for sharing, Steve.
SHAIMAN: Thank you. Take care.
More information about the 2025 HHIPC can be found at hhipc.org
