In this Sonatas & Soundscapes interview that aired Wednesday, March 11th, host Bradley Fuller is joined by Steve Shaiman, Competition Director of the Hilton Head International Piano Competition.
TRANSCRIPT:
FULLER: Steve, it's great as always to have you.
SHAIMAN: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
FULLER: Congratulations to the Hilton Head International Piano Competition on 30 years! What does this anniversary mean to you?
SHAIMAN: Yeah, it's a pretty major milestone. I mean, we had very humble beginnings back in 1996 for our very first one. There were only a handful of contestants. They were international, but it was just six in all, and there was only one judge for that first year.
But now, 30 years later, we have our regular component of 20 competitors coming from all around the world for the Young Artist Competition (which this is) featuring the ages of 13 to 17.
We have a total of five judges that will be with us in Hilton Head listening to the 20 competitors. When we do the Adult Competition as we did last March, we have seven jurors for that. So it's an exciting time. And the fact that we've accomplished so much in 30 years in terms of establishing the Hilton Head IPC as one of the major competitions in the US and respected around the world—we're very proud of that.
FULLER: You mentioned other iterations of the competition—an Adult Competition and the Young Artist competition. So these are the younger pianists as you were saying?
SHAIMAN: That's right. Back in 2011 was the very first time we decided to do a competition for young artists. At that time, there were not that many competitions devoting their efforts to the younger generation of pianists—what we like to call the “pre-professional” pianists who are working really hard, incredibly talented, and definitely on track to pursue a career, but not quite ready to jump in and have a career.
So this is a real building-block type of competition for them to gain recognition and to gain experience as they move along in their development.
FULLER: When it comes to the HHIPC that “I” stands for “International.” How many countries were represented in the application process and how many will be represented in the competition itself?
SHAIMAN: Yes, “International” is a very big component of what we do every year. We were very proud this year to have 166 applicants, which is a record for the Young Artist Competition for us. And those came from 20 different countries around the world—including the US, of course.
And then we had a panel of three judges in our competitor selection jury, and they assessed all 166 and were able—through a lot of work and time-consuming, painstaking work—to sort of winnow that down to 20 competitors who will be coming to us in a little while. And they are coming from six different countries, again including the US. It's the US, Canada, China, Taiwan, Korea, and Australia. Those are the six.
FULLER: So what are these young pianists required to bring with them in terms of repertoire?
SHAIMAN: So for the Young Artist, we’re a little bit more structured in what we ask them to bring and play for us because we want to see in the development of these young people a very well-rounded repertoire. So we do have a contemporary music requirement. We require them to play at least one piece that was written from 1975 or later, so within the last 50 years.
We require to them to play one complete Classical sonata. We actually have a special prize named after Professor Peter Takács. He funds the prize because he believes in the importance for young artists and young pianists to develop the Classical repertoire. So it's either Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert, or Schumann. So they must play a complete sonata by one of those composers.
We also ask them to play one Baroque piece and one Romantic piece. So those are the requirements. And then, whatever else they want to program within the time frame allowed, they are allowed to program.
One of the one of the things that Hilton Head is known for around the world—and especially in the competition world—is taking very good care of our competitors and making sure that they're feeling rested and nourished to perform at their best.
FULLER: Once on Hilton Head, what's the experience like for these pre-professional pianists in terms of both the competition and maybe in the rare moments of free time when they're not at the piano?
SHAIMAN: Sure. Well, I mean, obviously, when they're not at the piano that's a big thing, because when they get here with the drive and determination of these youngsters, they want to practice a lot, because they take this very seriously and they want to do well. And the reason they got to this point, obviously, is that they practice a lot and really devote a lot of time to it.
But we put them each with a local host family here in Hilton Head. We have an array of amazing, generous people who open up their homes to these youngsters and basically adopt them for about, you know, 10 to 12 days while they're here. They're all coming with a chaperone because they're younger competitors—which is most often a parent. Sometimes, it's a teacher.
And so the parent and the competitors stay in the home of our hosts who basically take them around, make sure that they're well cared for, that they’re well fed, they take care of all their meals, take them around, do a little sightseeing when time allows. There's not much time for that, but when they do have occasional off days during the competition, sometimes they get around to see the beach or to see the island a little bit and get a little taste of the local flavor.
So a big shout out to our host families. One of the one of the things that Hilton Head is known for around the world (and especially in the competition world) is taking very good care of our competitors and making sure that they're feeling rested and nourished to perform at their best.
FULLER: Sounds like some Lowcountry hospitality in action there.
SHAIMAN: Absolutely, by all means.
FULLER: Well, who has the difficult job of judging these pianists? I was looking through the list, and seems like some familiar names among the judges.
SHAIMAN: Yes, it’s a nice mix this year. Our jury chair is a wonderful British pianist, Ian Hobson, who's been living in the states for many years now. I believe he's got dual citizenship for the UK and the USA. He taught on faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for many years. I think he just recently retired, but he still living there. He is our jury chair.
We also have Angela Cheng who is on faculty at Oberlin Conservatory. She was a frequent guest here as a judge and as a performer. And also Marian Hahn, a wonderful pianist and pedagogue from Johns Hopkins Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, who has taught there for many years. She's judged for us before.
And then we have two first time judges—but it's their first time only as judges. They actually have been here before, because both of them are former competitors. One is a Russian pianist, Daria Rabotkina, a wonderful pianist who is on faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
And then Spencer Myer, who is on faculty at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. Both Daria and Spencer were competitors here roughly within the last dozen years or so. So we're very proud to bring back former competitors once they've established themselves. To have them come back as judges and as performers is something we take great pride in.
FULLER: A full-circle moment there. Very meaningful to have that return for sure.
SHAIMAN: Absolutely.
FULLER: Steve, thanks so much for sharing and congrats again to you and the HHIPC on three decades. And all best to these young competitors making their way to Hilton Head!
SHAIMAN: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me, and we look forward to seeing some great audiences here in the room where it's happening, where the great energy is coming off the stage from these exciting young performers. And people can also watch on our live stream which happens on our website.
FULLER: Sounds like some wonderful opportunities. Thanks, Steve.
SHAIMAN: Thank you.
More information about the 2026 HHIPC schedule and tickets can be found at https://www.hhipc.org/
