Roughly 30 players from around the world compete for first prize, which will almost certainly catapult the winner into a career as a first-class musician. The winner of the 2007 competition, for example, is now principal harpist with the Bolshoi Ballet. Each performer must learn and master 13 separate compositions, including an entire concerto for orchestra and harp.
The repertoire is “virtually impossible to play,” according to renowned harpist Susann McDonald; “It takes two years of daily practice to even be able to play, much less master these works.”
In the end, only three players will play every piece; at each stage of the four-stage competition, half the competitors are cut. Footage was captured in Moscow, Zurich, Paris and the USA. Blythe Danner narrates.
