Serious play
For Art Manwelyan, a long lunch doesn't mean lingering over a martini at a fancy restaurant. When he leaves midday from his job as a software engineer at Guardium Inc. in Waltham, he's more apt to zip home to grab a precious half hour of practice time at his piano. And every night after work, there's more practicing, sometimes at home, sometimes at Yury's Piano, the Newton shop run by his friend, Yury Livshetz, where Manwelyan takes lessons once a week. It's an impressive level of musical commitment for a nonprofessional, but Manwelyan is among the growing ranks of amateur pianists worldwide who take their music seriously. He's also one of three dozen competitors -- 10 of whom are from the Boston area -- in this weekend's Third Boston International Piano Competition for Exceptional Amateurs, which welcomes pianists from all walks of life and from as far away as Brazil, France, and Mexico.
In their professional lives, the contestants are lawyers, physicians, engineers, physicists, CEOs, homemakers, educators, and flight attendants. But their passion is the piano, and this weekend they share their talents with the public -- and with five highly discerning judges.
For audiences, the biennial competition offers an opportunity to hear a wide range of music performed by pianists committed to playing for the sheer love of it, which can offer an extra frisson of excitement and emotion as players stretch their limits. While most participants display impressive technical skills, they are not seasoned professionals with the confidence of years of onstage experience. The competition may mark the first time many have put their talent to such a stringent test, adding an air of unpredictability to the proceedings. Finalists, though, usually play at professional levels. Audiences can weigh in by voting for the ''Audience Favorite" award.
Robert Finley, an engineer with General Dynamics, founded Boston Piano Amateurs Association, the nonprofit, all-volunteer organization that sponsors the competition, after his rewarding experience as a semifinalist in the amateur part of the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1999. Members of the BPAA meet once a month, play informally for each other, and talk shop about music and technique.
''Amateurs have as much need to express themselves musically as professionals," Finley says. ''A competition provides an opportunity for us to play before an appreciative audience, improve the level of our playing, make new friends, and enjoy music."
The contest is held in three stages, all open to the public. In the first stage, which takes two days, contestants play a maximum of 10 minutes; Manwelyan will perform three pieces, including Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C sharp major, from ''The Well-Tempered Clavier." A dozen semifinalists are selected, and on day three they play a different program up to 12 minutes long; Manwelyan's program for the semis includes pieces by Shostakovich and Chopin. Five finalists are picked to play yet another program up to 30 minutes on the fourth day; if he makes it that far, Manwelyan will perform Beethoven's ''Appassionata" sonata. The winner gets a $1,000 cash prize and the opportunity to perform a concert with a local orchestra.
It's a daunting challenge for those with full-time jobs, but participants claim the objective is not so much to win but to become better musicians in the process. For the Russian-born Manwelyan, who has played since childhood and has participated in a number of competitions, the challenge is a big attraction. ''When you play piano for fun, it's sometimes good to have some kind of goal," he says. ''Participating gives me a lot in my development as a pianist, and to understanding music better. It gives some kind of shape to life."
