As one of America’s most distinguished instrumental contests, the Cleveland International Piano Competition prides itself on having helped launched the careers of artists including Angela Hewitt, Jean-Yves Thibaudet and the late Nicholas Angelich. But despite the illustrious laureates, there is no sense in Cleveland of an institution resting on its own laurels. As the competition approaches its fiftieth year, it has re-thought the entire basis on which a major instrumental contest might operate and is determined to prepare future laureates for a changing musical and creative landscape.

265 pianists entered the 2024 edition of the competition, and the 55 selected by a preliminary jury will experience a rather different competition from what has gone before. ‘We want to see each pianist as a complete artist,’ says Yaron Kohlberg, competition president, who has dispensed with the idea of obligatory Bach, Beethoven and Chopin and is encouraging his contestants to ‘choose repertoire that expresses who they are and what they see as the future of the piano’, offering them ‘opportunities for them to share their artistic vision.’

From the first rounds of the 2024 contest, pianists will be asked to select music by under-represented composers and will be interviewed by the jury about their repertoire choices and career aspirations. ‘Knowing how to engage with audiences, how to build social media followings and explain your art to a variety of audiences is essential,’ says Kohlberg. Pianists proceeding to later rounds will benefit from an artist development programme reinforcing the competition’s belief that the future of classical piano depends on fostering individual artists’ growth and expression.

Honggi Kim at the 2021 Cleveland International Piano Competition

Something else will feel very different about the 2024 competition’s first round in March and April: it will take place in Paris as well as Cleveland. In a nod to the French pianist Robert Casadesus – whose name the competition carried until 1995 – first round contestants will play either at the Conservatory of Music at Baldwin Wallace University in Cleveland or at the Salle Cortot at the École Normale de Musique in Paris. The dual locations will make the competition more accessible and sustainable while reconnecting it with its Parisian roots.

The 16 quarter-finalists who are invited to Cleveland for the competition’s last rounds this summer will be encouraged to look far beyond the normal expectations of a classical piano competition and express themselves as artists. They will be asked to perform in a variety of venues and settings, performing pop music duos at the opening ceremony, appearing in intimate salon settings with small audiences and working as part of Piano Cleveland’s community outreach programmes.

As in earlier rounds, they will be asked to perform music by neglected or under-represented composers and to discuss their choices and motivation in conversation. Kohlberg wants contestants to show juries ‘who they are and what they see as the future of the piano’ – part of his competition’s remit to identify and support the future leaders in the piano world.

Contestants can expect handsome rewards. One constant in Cleveland is the competition’s five-decade reputation for generous prizes, including the $75,000 Mixon First Prize. Making a career, though, depends on more than a cash parachute. The winner will be given guaranteed recital dates at two of the world’s most prestigious venues, Carnegie Hall and the Tonhalle Zürich, and will be offered a partnership with Arabella Arts – one of the leading artist management companies in the US.

Getting to Cleveland and the quarter-finals will be a prize in itself. The competitions’ Artist Development Programme will ensure contestants benefit from residencies, mentorship opportunities, courses on branding and marketing, masterclasses and first-hand feedback and advice from pianists including Jonathan Biss, Angela Hewitt and Hyung-ki Joo.

Kohlberg is confident the 2024 Cleveland International Piano Competition will showcase extraordinary talent, right from the 55 pianists performing in the first round – all of whom ‘demonstrated a breadth and depth of skill and personality that proves our competition is moving in the right direction,’ according to the President. His competition has radically redrawn expectations. Perhaps its winner will do even more.

Find out more: pianocleveland.org