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(Blog post by Chris Maskell)

Every year, the Acad茅mie de Musique du Qu茅bec stages the Prix d鈥橢urope competition to give young classical musicians a chance to net a substantial scholarship to study music abroad. With previous prize winners including clarinettist David Dias da Silva, pianist Xiaoyu Liu and flautist Ariane Brisson, the bar is clearly set high for those competing for the $25,000 Grand Prize.聽However, this didn鈥檛 discourage pianist Felix Hong (B.Mus 2016, Art. Diploma 2017) from entering this year鈥檚 competition. After strong performances in the preliminary rounds, Hong competed in the finals earlier this month to ultimately receive the Grand Prize. Prof. Ilya Poletaev, who taught Hong for five years at Schulich, attributes this success to his 鈥渓ove for music and a deep聽need to communicate on a very personal level.鈥�

To learn more about this monumental experience, we spoke to Hong in an email exchange about the Prix d鈥橢urope itself, the role of competitions in career development and his future plans.

Winning the Prix d鈥橢urope is a big accomplishment 鈥� what does receiving the Grand Prize this year mean to you?

To me, receiving the Grand Prize is a mark of how much progress I鈥檝e been able to make during my past five years of music studies at Schulich. Also, it means that I was able to convey my musical thoughts in a convincing way while developing as an independent musician. I've known about the Prix d鈥橢urope ever since I started at Schulich, and I鈥檓 glad that I finally entered the competition in my last year here. I am extremely honored to receive the Grand Prize 鈥� it was an incomparable experience.

What role do you think competitions play in developing the careers of emerging musicians?

I think nowadays competitions are becoming much more important events 鈥� especially for pianists 鈥� because it gives us a chance for public appearances and recognition. Personally, the qualities I develop most through competitions are the motivation and improvement I get through the preparation process.

How do you think studying with Ilya Poletaev at Schulich helped prepare you for the competition? What was your preparation process?

I鈥檓 glad that when I was working with Ilya, we never prepared specifically for a competition or a certain performance. He let me know what my strengths were and what was still missing in the pieces during lessons and run-throughs, so I was able to apply his feedback to future situations. The preparation process is not so different from practicing, except that whenever I get overwhelmed by stress, I go home immediately to watch some NBA games. I am also thankful for the incredible work done during rehearsals and in the final round by Karnsiri Laothamatas, my orchestral reduction pianist.

As the goal of the competition is to provide the Grand Prize winner with money to study in Europe, do you already have plans in place for how to use the award?

Coincidentally, I鈥檓 starting my Master鈥檚 degree at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London this fall. This award is going to be a huge help with the high living cost in London. I鈥檓 extremely grateful that the Prix d'Europe provides this opportunity annually to young musicians who seek to study abroad, and alongside the financial support, I also look forward to the engagements in Montreal that the Prix d'Europe provides!

Hear Felix Hong perform as part of Prix d鈥橢urope in Concert on March 10, 2018 as the featured soloist with l鈥橭rchestre symphonique des jeunes de Montreal.