A couple years ago, professor of music Douglas Jurs and Eden Brown ʼ07 discovered a forgotten manuscript at the French National Library. It was a collection of keyboard music written by Joseph Bologne, an 18th century musician who became one of the leading composers, violinists and conductors in Paris at the time.
“He didn't have any keyboard music that was published except for one piece,” Jurs said. “There was one piece that was published and nothing else. And nobody even knew that he wrote for piano.”
Bologne was one of the first musicians of African descent to write and perform in the European classical style attributed to artists such as Mozart and Bach. When Jurs and Brown found the unpublished works, they worked to increase awareness of Bologne by publishing his music and founding a piano competition.
“Whenever you find a new repertoire, there's always the fear that no one will care,” Jurs said. “And so I started this piano competition as a way to promote this research that we've been doing, and also to center the work of a composer who's been unjustly forgotten.”
The inaugural Joseph Bologne International Piano Competition was hosted by the Elon University Department of Music on Feb. 1 in Yeager Recital Hall. Twelve high schoolers spent the morning and early afternoon performing programs lasting between 10 and 20 minutes featuring a song from the newly published Bologne keyboard works. Five students then went on to a final round which was open to the public.
The first place prize of $1000 was awarded to Benjamin Luo from Raleigh, North Carolina. Los Angeles native Mia Safdie placed second, earning $600, and third prize winner from Ontario, Canada, Aidan Cheng, earned $300. An additional $150 award for best performance of a work by Joseph Bologne was awarded to John Patrick Hutchinson from Rockingham, North Carolina.
“Discovering the new repertoire is pretty cool, but also just getting to perform is a great opportunity,” finalist Alex Lin, a junior from Greensboro, North Carolina, said.
Safdie also enjoyed learning about a new composer.
“What was so special about this competition is that I got to explore Joseph Bologne, and I didn't previously know about him,” Safdie said. “It was really great for me to learn more about his story and listen to more of his pieces. So now that I'm familiar with him, it means quite a lot to me.”
That was just what Jurs hoped participants would take away from the competition, which he plans to make a biennial event
“Hearing the Bologne repertoire played by students is really exciting because no one knew about this repertoire a year ago,” Jurs said. “So that's really exciting and gratifying for Eden and I.”