Interview of Silvia Careddu Issuu.com On winning 1st Prize unanimously and the Audience Prize at the Concours de Genève in 2001

SILVIA CAREDDU
PRESIDENT OF THE FLUTE JURY
1ST PRIZE OF THE CONCOURS DE GENEVE IN 2001
BY CHARLOTTE GARDNER

After winning 1st Prize unanimously and the Audience Prize at the Concours de Genève in 2001, aged 24, Italian flautist Silvia Careddu is back as President of the Flute jury. She reflects back on her time performing at the competition herself, and on her hopes for this year’s candidates.

What are your strongest memories of your own time as a competitor in Geneva?

First of all, the big wish to be in good shape, to be able to control nerves and brain (because of course everything is played from memory), and to play at my best level in front of that jury. Because it was an amazing jury – the President was Emmanuel Pahud, who had won the previous edition in 1992, and there was also Michel Debost, Jacques Zoon, Raymond Guiot, Robert Dick, Karl-Heinz Zöller…

When you arrive at a competition, even though you’re here because your teachers have told you you’re in good chance, you’re still wondering whether your best level is good enough. Then you get through one round, and there’s this big relief; it feels like a dream because you have proven to yourself that you are enough. Then, you get through the semi-final, and it becomes the adrenaline type of stress where you are very focused. I went there with no expectations, but just super ready and honored I did well, “Okay, let’s go.” The jury and the prize gave me more energy and I just wanted to play well.

What kind of impact did winning have on your subsequent career?

Well it was a bomb for me! I was unprepared for what a tsunami it would be in my life. For example, musicians that before you only see in the newspaper or on a CD cover suddenly call you to ask whether you’re free to participate at their festivals as a young talent. Playing and socializing with that kind of musicians is amazing because it allows you to mature and improve at that level.

Winning a competition of this calibre gives you a calling card, which you then have to confirm with your playing – and this brings a pressure of its own. However, this pressure goes away a little if, rather than taking the win only for yourself, you view it as a key to continue sharing this music you love with other excellent musicians. In my case, it opened the doors to being invited to play as a soloist with orchestras, ensembles, to participate at important festivals, to teach… I had a lot of interesting experiences, continued to learn and improve, which makes me very happy. This is how I see what happened for me after Geneva.

The flute is arguably a trickier instrument than, say, violin or piano, in terms of professional openings. Where do you think competitions fit into the flautist landscape?

Oh at the very top. Nowadays, thanks to social media, there are more ways than before of making yourself known, but you don’t always know whether someone’s playing is as good as their talent at Instagram and CV file-building. Whereas with a competition, everybody knows what that has meant: what it takes to play and be there, managing the stress, and to progress to the end; and they’re happy that there are people with the talent to achieve this. If your CV says “First Prize Geneva,” it is a stamp of quality that people are almost “obliged” to invite you to auditions, festivals, competitions, masterclasses… and offers for sure more visibility.

What do you think about the Concours de Genève now in 2023, what today marks it out as a competition whose jury you wanted to chair as President?

The history of this competition speaks for itself. I have such a huge respect for this institution that has been going since the 1930s, and that has had such an impact on musicians and culture, with so many illustrious winners. It is a huge honour to be President of the jury. When I received the email inviting me, I had to re-read it three times! So now I hope to continue this tradition of picking up the very best.

Are you anticipating any elements of it with especial pleasure?

Yes! The free-choice programme round. With all the technologies, possibilities and knowledge we have today, I’m very much looking forward to seeing which ideas the candidates develop, what research they do to give shape to their programme concept, and how they let their personalities really speak through it all. Then of course the Final, because that’s the moment where you hope to see very happy faces! Full of concentration, to be sure, but happy to have made it there.

What are you personally looking for?

Well, principally to listen to beautiful musicians. Players who are both sensitive and intelligent. I hope that onstage they will not forget that the composers and their text should always come first. Of course, as an interpreter you put your own stamp on it, but nowadays it’s getting a little bit strange, like a free world without rules. Which can be good, but in music, as much as for any other language, the grammar is still the grammar. So, beautiful, elegant phrasings, coming from the heart, from the knowledge, from the instinct as well, and not trying to be shocking and original no matter what…

What are your hopes for the candidates?

I hope that they will feel good and completely focused. I know how much this competition creates the sorts of conditions where the only thing the candidates need to think about is their own playing. Then, some people will be there wanting to win, while others will be wanting simply to participate and give their best. So I hope that everyone emerges satisfied with their playing, and feeling that they have achieved something for themselves.

If you could give one piece of advice both to the eventual winner, and to those who don’t win, what would it be?

I’ll start with the second one. Having had many adventures in my own life, sometimes winning and sometimes losing, I can say that we can learn immensely from outcomes we view as negative. And this is also why I wanted a jury such as the one we have, whose musicians did those kinds of competitions themselves, and will therefore advise with thoughtfulness and understanding, wanting to help. So I advise looking at what didn’t work, and learning from the experience in a way that ends up being transformative. This may mean reflecting on how they prepared. Or, on how much they worked on their psychological side, because I think fifty percent of preparing a competition is about building up a strong psychological strength.

Then for the winner, I want them to feel really in heaven! Because that’s the feeling, when what you give from your heart and all your efforts are appreciated and rewarded. Then, I would say to go on in life continuing to learn and continuing to give. To pass music, not in the sense of being an ego, but in a very deep way; really taking music as a chance to do something exquisite in life, to improve yourself as a human being, to bring pleasure to other people’s lives, and of course, to elevate art and culture! But first of all, to just enjoy this incredible happiness, this adrenalin bomb that I still remember myself, and which still always makes me happy!

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