Their names are Lena, Nikita, Ira and Mitya. They master concert performances with aplomb that would make even grown-up pianists nervous. When they conjure up trills, runs and jump cascades on the piano, one is speechless: Such is the maturity with which these children interpret the most difficult piano works. It is a miracle that is the result of hours of daily practice and a great tradition.
No other country has produced so many piano virtuosos in this century as Russia. Thousands of music schools in the big cities, but also in the deepest Russian provinces, are training musicians of the highest caliber. Then as now, despite economic crises, poverty and chaos. The roots of this tradition go back to the thirties: In the midst of the Great Terror, Stalin made the promotion of the arts a top state priority. At that time, the Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory opened its doors. To this day, it is the coveted springboard for a great musical career. Parents from all parts of Russia come here with their children, hoping to be among the chosen few.
Visiting the school is a moving experience. The dilapidated building stands in a Moscow suburb. The plaster is peeling from the walls, holes are appearing in the gray linoleum floor, the dark, bare hallways, the sparsely furnished rooms give the impression of screaming poverty. But here, no one cares about the outward appearance – in the small classrooms, two shifts of students play, sing, and practice non-stop. The school is very sparing with praise. Only work counts here. In addition to drill and discipline, there is also an educational tradition of the highest quality. No wonder that even the youngest students sound like professionals when they perform the most difficult piano works.
Take eight-year-old Ira, for example. With her great talent, she stunned the school’s admissions committee. Just one year later, she wowed the audience in Frankfurt’s Kaisersaal with a difficult Chopin program. We were present at these events, as well as in Ira’s regular classes and at home.
The ten-year-old Mitya from Sewastopol lives with his mother and grandmother in a room of a Moscow Kommunalka. When you see his mother’s tired face, you understand the sacrifices she has made to enable her son to attend school in Moscow.
Mitya’s friend Nikita, nine years old and also in fourth grade, is celebrated as the school’s greatest talent. He won first prize in the 1997 Shostakovich Competition in Hanover. A few months ago he won the Grand Prix at an international competition in Italy. His compositions have already been recorded in Moscow.
Seventeen-year-old Lena from the Ukrainian city of Charkow has been giving concerts all over the world since she was nine – including a concert for Pope John in the Vatican – but she does not even have a piano of her own to practice on. Only in the evening, when school is out, can she play in the empty school until late at night. Lena is now experiencing the drama that many prodigies experience: When they grow up, they are suddenly no longer the sought-after, cute prodigy, but grown-up competitors in the world of top musicians. Lena’s greatest wish is to prove that women can also become world-class pianists.
The movie accompanies the highly gifted children for two years: Obsessed with music and almost religious in their devotion, they seem like remnants of a world lost in a dream. Around them, society is sinking into chaos and poverty, but in their close-knit community, other rules apply: Discipline, renunciation, and the hope of a better life.
10 years later, with the same protagonists, the film “The competitors – Russia’s Prodigies 2” was made.
The film was shown at the following festivals Int. Forum of Young Cinema, Berlinale 2000, DocAviv Tel Aviv, Int. Documentary Film Festival Munich, Docfest New York, Int. Documentary Festival Amsterdam, Dokumentarfilmfestival Amsterdam, Hot Docs Toronto April 2002 and won the Golden Gate Award Competition, San Francisco 2001.
Supported by Media
and Film and Media Foundation NRW
Distribution: Lichtfilm Verleih 0221-9726517
