The Fine Music radio network has announced that its five member stations – Canberra’s Artsound FM, 2MBS Fine Music Sydney, 3MBS Fine Music Melbourne, 4MBS Classic FM in Brisbane and 5MBS 99.9FM in Adelaide – will collaborate for the first time in the broadcasting of the 2023 Sydney International Piano Competition, ‘The Sydney’, from 5–22 July.
“As sister stations we do work together throughout the year to coordinate our annual Young Virtuoso Award and other projects. However, our national broadcast partnership with The Sydney is a new and very exciting initiative for us and one that we hope to expand in future,” says Mona Omar, Director of Operations at 2MBS Fine Music Sydney.
Gary Thorpe, General Manager at 4MBS Classic FM added: “We are thrilled to partner with The Sydney to bring to our listeners around Australia and the world the wonderful pianists that this international competition attracts.”
Founded by the late Claire Dan, Rex Hobcroft and Robert Tobias, The Sydney was inaugurated in July 1977 (Russian pianist Irina Plotnikova won first prize) and has since been held every four years, except in 1988 when it was brought forward to coincide with Bicentenary of Australia celebrations.
The Sydney was quickly admitted as a member of the Geneva based World Federation of International Music Competitions in 1978 and was the first Australian competition to be accepted as a member. The Sydney is now regarded as one of the handful of ‘master’ competitions.
Thirty-two young pianists, selected from 250 applicants, will travel to Sydney in July to compete. The list of competitors for the 2023 competition includes three from Australia (Leanne Jin, Robbin Reza and Alexander Yau), eight from China, four from Russia, two from Belarus, Germany, Japan and Ukraine and one competitor each from America, Britain, Canada, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, Turkey and South Korea.
Marcus Baker, Chief Executive at The Sydney, hailed the new partnership. “Bringing the previously quadrennial competition back as a live event for the first time since 2016 is such a thrilling experience for all music lovers.”
The broadcast partners the radio stations will air a weekly two-hour program of highlights from the various rounds in the preliminary, semi-final and finals stages.
As well as the Fine Music broadcasts, there will also be video streams available on The Sydney’s website and social media pages and a catch-up option on The Sydney’s YouTube Channel.
Digital tickets are also available via Australian Digital Concert Hall.
The 2023 Fine Music The Sydney (5–22 July) broadcast details are:
Artsound, Canberra: Tuesdays, 2pm–4pm
2MBS Fine Music Sydney: Wednesdays, 2pm–4pm
3MBS Fine Music Melbourne: Saturdays, 2pm–4pm
4MBS Classic FM: Fridays, 8pm–10pm (The finals will be presented live)
5MBS 99.9FM: Sundays, 8pm–10pm
