‘Pianoforte’ takes part in a heartbreaking music competition where young artists face ‘high stakes and big emotions’ – documentary about the contestants

Every five years, one of the most exciting classical music competitions in the world takes place in the Polish capital: the International Chopin Piano Competition, commonly known as the “Piano Olympics”.

Competitors from all over the world gather under the strict eye and ear of the jury to perform works for solo piano composed by local boy Frédéric Chopin, himself a virtuoso pianist who wrote music of immense skill and required artistry on the part of the soloist. .

In his documentary Piano fortPolish director Jakub Piątek of Greenwich Entertainment and Telemark documents the recent Chopin Competition, an event of such high prestige that it is inherently “high stakes and big emotions,” as the filmmaker said during an appearance on Deadline’s Contenders Documentary.

RELATED: Documentary Deadline’s Competitors – Full Coverage

“In this preliminary round, we selected our approximately 160 main players to get one of the 90 “tickets” for the main competition,” explains Piątek. “And then we started visiting their homes, meeting families and photographing them. And that’s how this special bond with us came about in the first place. And on the other hand, it ensured us such access to the background.”

Young contestants such as Leonora Armellini and Michelle Candotti from Italy, Russian-Armenian teenage pianist Eva Gevorgyan, Marcin Wieczorek from Poland and Hao Rao from China are under incredible pressure because winning the competition will put them on the road to global success.

The focus Piano fort It’s less about what they do on the concert stage and more about how they handle the mounting tension before they sit down at the piano in front of the audience.

“I always thought, ‘What happened before?'” Piątek said. “What kind of trouble does it take?”

The director added: “Maybe this is the last time you’ll see these really young people enter adulthood without masks. Because some of the successful ones in the competition are already surrounded by PR agencies, agents and managers at this stage. There is already some sort of industry involved in all of this. And during this one month in Warsaw, you may see her for the very last time in real life.”

Check back Tuesday to watch the panel video.