Concours de Genève sees change as chance

With multiple competitions every year, each spotlighting a different discipline, demanding a separate jury and requiring a set-up unique to each instrument, the Swiss Concours de Genève is a demanding event series to manage. CM sat down with secretary general Didier Schnorhk to find out just what it takes to bring this competition – and the career opportunities which go with it – to audiences and competitors twice a year.

Judging entries to Concours de Genève's composition competition (Image courtesy of Concours de Genève)

Could you take us through your timeline for organising each competition?

In reality, organising each competition takes much longer than a single year. I would say each one takes about two years, or even two and a half. We start by choosing the discipline. In Geneva, several disciplines are involved, and the choices for each competition are made a long time in advance, sometimes four or even six years in advance. However, we start working on the programmes, organisation and jury at least two years in advance: confirming dates with the orchestras, booking venues, discussing programmes, choosing jurors, etc.

At the moment, we are currently in the midst of working on our 2026 competitions, and for 2027, we'll start organising early next year.

Part of the Concours de Genève mission is to provide emerging talent with the necessary tools to launch an international career – how does this goal influence how the competition is managed?

This mission of accompanying and supporting the launch of a career is at the heart of our thinking, and therefore has an impact on our entire organisation.

First of all, we have to find the funds to run such a programme, and so we highlight it in all our communications with sponsors or donors. Then we have to think about the programme of our competitions, and ensure it includes sufficient freedom of choice and high standards to ensure that the chosen winners will be artists capable of launching a career. Finally, we must consistently communicate the importance of this mission for the Concours de Genève. All of the competition's activities are therefore affected.

How do you accommodate the needs (and nerves!) of competition laureates in the lead-up to each performance?

Of course, you can't get rid of the stress and anxiety that is inherent in performing – and is often exacerbated by the competition format. However, what we can do is take care of all the other aspects and look after human relations. We strive to offer the participants the best possible working conditions, with appropriate rooms, pianos, timetables, accommodation and food all kept in mind when planning each competition.

The Friends of the Competition association is also very active in providing the young participants with human support: housing them in families, looking after them and being attentive to all their needs. The competition prides itself on treating participants in a particularly warm way: we try to do everything we can to accommodate them, we help them solve any practical problems, and above all, we listen to them.

Marina Viotti, Concours de Genève prizewinner in 2016 © Aline Fournier

What do you feel is the biggest challenge for the competition’s administrative team when presenting multiple competitions each year?

No challenge is insurmountable, even when presenting several competitions a year. Of course, the team has to be large enough and, above all, permanent so we are a team of four people who work all year round. The rest is really a matter of organisation, anticipation and knowledge of the field: you can't acquire this in a few months, or even a few years. Each discipline may have its own particularities that you need to get to know, even if the basic work remains more or less the same.

However, one of the keys to success is certainly the continuity of knowledge: our team has been working together for many years. Everyone knows their job and what needs to be done to ensure that everything runs smoothly.

Competition juries change with each discipline and each iteration. What was the idea behind this constant evolution of competition leadership?

We have juries of seven people for the interpretation disciplines and five people for composition. Depending on the year and the discipline, we may even have nine-person juries. We try to renew the juries every year, even if we sometimes use a particular personality for one or two editions: we don't want habits to set in and we don't want it to always be the same people judging the participants. We know that this would be detrimental to young artists. The music world is evolving fast, and we need to keep abreast of changes.

How does the competition maintain its high standards and support for laureates alongside this constant change?

Change must be seen as a chance, an opportunity for positive development, and not as a risk or a weakness. Of course, to achieve this, it's not enough just to line up the names of well-known and lesser-known artists: one of the longest and most arduous tasks in our organisation is choosing the members of the juries. This can take months, and often requires a great deal of thought and discussion. If we want to maintain the same high standards of quality over time, then choosing the members of the juries has to be a task that we take extremely seriously.

And while the juries may change, the institution remains the same. The organisers, the competition management and their team are the custodians of our high standards.

The Concours de Genève presents competitions in multiple disciplines each year, with Voice and Composition competitions in 2024. How does this multi-disciplinary approach benefit or challenge the organisation?

The advantage of having a multi-disciplinary competition, generally speaking, is that it can encourage exchanges between artists, meetings, putting things into perspective. Not seeing each discipline in isolation, but as part of a global musical world, also encourages innovation by breaking away from the usual framework and habits.

As for the difficulties, they are mainly linked to organisation, which is inevitably more complex, and to the need to be open to diversity. Our multi-disciplinarity approach is only conceivable in a spirit of openness, tolerance and curiosity.

Concours de Genève was created in 1939 and was one of the founding members of the World Federation of International Music Competitions. How has the field of international music competitions has changed since the federation was founded?

It goes without saying that today's musical world has little to do with the immediate post-war period - and even less with the world of the 1930s. While the music itself may seem the same and almost eternal, its interpretation is of course profoundly linked to the zeitgeist, the ideas, the way of life and the tools of the moment.

The advent of air travel, recording and then social networks profoundly changed the musical ecosystem. Today, it is rather the environmental issues, the questioning of a Western way of life, its pre-eminence and sometimes even its very existence that is challenging classical music world. But at the end of the day, what is fundamental and what is our true responsibility, is to build and nurture institutions that are sufficiently strong, honest, rich in ideas and values to stand the challenge of time and be able to adapt.

The 78th Concours de Genève will take place from 15 to 22 October 2024, with semi-finals and finals broadcast on RTS-Espace 2 and live-streamed on the Concours de Genève's website, social media channels and amadeus.tv.