The winning duet – in a double interview, the laureates of the 1st place ex aequo of the 11th Michał Spisak International Music Competition in oboe category: João Miguel Moreira da Silva and Gabriel Pidoux.
Agnieszka Nowok: You are already laureates of many international music competitions. Is another prize in another competition still able to make you happy?
João Miguel Moreira da Silva: Of course, winning always makes us happy, but above all, the most important is the sense of accomplishment. It is great to be able to say to yourself, “You did a great job.”
Gabriel Pidoux: I think the prize is always important for anyone who performs or writes music. I admit that for me this win is of special importance, because it is my first 1st place in an international competition.
AN: Composition obligatory for all finalists in the oboe category was Concert for oboe and C-dur orchestra KV314 by Wolfgang Amadeusz Mozart. What difficulties does this piece put to the performer?
JS: For me, the most difficult was the “historic” shift: on contemporary oboes we play quite differently than on the instruments from the Mozart’s era. The sound that should be extracted in this case should be as simple as possible – it has caused me the most trouble.
GP: It is one of the flagship compositions of the oboe repertoire. It is extremely difficult in such a case to maintain a certain executive convention, associated among others with the epoch of creation of the piece, while proposing the jury and the audience something completely different,”own”. Mozart’s works also require extraordinary precision and attention to detail.
AN: Is any of the compositions that appeared in all three stages particularly close to you as performers??
JS: Duo Concertante , which was written by Antal Dorati. His music is fascinating to me – full of colors, and the oboist can really show off his executive skills. Dorati – what I love about his pieces – is quite unpredictable: he allows the oboist to play with incredible freedom, and then suddenly requires a strict pace. His pieces are full of musical jokes, and I love joking!
GP: I appreciate many of the compositions that have appeared throughout the competition. I am fascinated by their variety, distinctness – each of them actually has something captivating in it, something that in the context of the others is completely new quality. But if I had to choose one – I think it would be the already mentioned oboe Concerto because it brought me the victory and I will have the opportunity to re-perform it during the Concert of Laureates, which I am very happy about.
AN: Do you have your musical ideal: a person – an artist who particularly inspires you, about whose attitude, play, way of thinking about music and performance you are passionate?
JS: This is a very difficult question. I have many such performers, not only among the oboists. I can certainly mention here the outstanding pianist, Grigoriya Sokolov. I admire his way of playing: he extracts all its essence from the composition and uses all the possibilities of the instrument. Among violinists I particularly like Maxim Vengerov. My favorite oboists, who are my idols, are among others Stefan Schilli and Jonathan Kelly.
GP: I could also name many artists, but Heinz Holliger, who as s an oboist, but also a composer and conductor constantly inspires me, I listen to his recordings repeatedly. My professor, Jacques Tys, is also important to me.
AN: Last question, gentlemen: do you have any special plans related to your award?
JS: Yes, I am planning to buy an instrument.
GP: I also have plans related to the purchase of necessary accessories for playing.
AN: Thank you for the conversation and on behalf of both myself and the organizers, I wish you further success!
JS, GP: Thank you very much.
