DESCRIPTION:
While playing the first movement of Beethoven's Appassionata in the second round of The International Competition for Outstanding Piano Amateurs in Paris, the president of the competition, mr. Gérard Bekerman, chose to interrupt my performance by ringing with his bell. Afterwards asking if the jury had any comments on my playing, I was told in a condescending way that they found it so bad that it was not worth hearing the rest of it. In addition to my serious doubt about the objectivity of that rather brutal judgement considering the general level of playing in the competition, I think this seems completely conflicting with the philosophy of the competition: "Here, the desire to "win" is outweighed by the love of music. You are going to discover that the Competition for Outstanding amateurs is not a competition but an "anti-competition". There are no opponents, no competitors, no judges, just music lovers." (From the competition's homepage.)

I was also stopped in the first round in the middle of Saint-Saëns/Liszt: Danse Macabre, due to bad and stupid planning of the competition. At one of my practicing times, there were no free pianos. All in all, the competition was terribly organized and the participants were very disrespectfully treated.

I would advise everybody with self-respect and love for their piano playing not to participate in the competition.