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Arto Noras: From Harbin to Tongyeong

Artists
Competitions

An interview with the great Finnish Cellist, who will chair the Jury at the 2025 ISANGYUN Competition in Tongyeong, South Korea

WFIMC: You just spent two weeks in Harbin at the Schoenfeld Competition. It was your second visit to this northern Chinese city. What was your impression?

Arto Noras: We had a wonderful time in this city. The competition has grown a lot, the level was excellent, and everyone was so well taken care of! I really enjoyed the time here. It was interesting also to work together- both in Chamber music and in the Cello Finals- with our colleagues from the violin section. 
Now I will fly home, but I have quite a bit of travel coming up to various places, and finally I will come back to Asia in November for the ISANGYUN Cello Competition in Tongyeong. It will be nice to be back...

Do you have any memories from the first time you visited Tongyeong in 2004?

My recollection of the first Isangyun Cello Competition in 2003, which was 22 years ago, is unfortunately very flimsy. I remember it was a long way to Tongyeong, and of course there was no new concert hall like today, but I like Korean food a lot and thoroughly enjoyed the wonderful seafood in town.
As a passionate sailor, I liked greatly the competition venue, the hall overlooking the ocean and the islands of Tongyeong. Then there was a free day, and chairman Lee of Kumho company invited us all to a cruise on his yacht. It was a beautiful boat, a good 30m long, with 3 floors. Alas, it was a rather windy day, the sea was turbulent and it was by no means relaxing. But as a seaman I felt very much at home and was even able to help the captain of the boat during his docking manoevres.

WFIMC: Was it your first trip to Korea?

No, I had been to the country before. In fact I started to travel to Korea regularly already in 1979. Later I began to teach regularly at Yonsei University. But whether in Seoul or in Tongyeong, everything was very professional, even though Korea´s tradition of Western classical music was relatively short. And the hospitality for the jury at the ISANGYUN Competition was exceptional.

Going back to the ISANGYUN Competition this November, what are your thoughts?

I think it´s a great competition, very well organized, with a very high standard and an outstanding jury. The repertoire gives a lot of choices…

You have said that Bach sometimes causes problems for the judging of competitions.

Yes, disagreements about Bach can make judging a competition difficult. When the jury listens to Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, or Dvorak, everybody pretty much agrees upon whether the performance was good or bad. But when somebody plays Bach, some of the judges hate it, some love it, and the rest don’t say anything at all!
The normal way to approach a composition is not enough for some reason when playing Bach. I am not allowed, by some groups, to apply all my knowledge and experience of music and music-making and perform Bach the way I like it. No matter what I do, somebody will be offended. I can play it with or without vibrato, legato or with separate bows, with a variety of tempos, and so on, and somebody is guaranteed to hate it. There are no rules with Bach, which I find to be very irritating! I love the Bach Suites, but I think they should be played like the other compositions we play today, with all the possibilities we have available. 
At the Paolo international Cello Competition in Helsinki, we don´t have Bach on the Program for this reason. But that said, at the ISANGYUN Competition, only two momevements from the Bach suites are required, along with another solo work and a piece by Isang Yun, so that changes the situation a lot.

Arto Noras with Florian Riem (WFIMC Secretary General) at the 2025 Schoenfeld intl. String Competition in Harbin, China, in July 2025

Do you worry about style issues with Haydn as well?

Haydn can be problematic if there is only Haydn in one round. Some things, like the amount and type of vibrato you use in Haydn is definitely a question of taste, and so it becomes harder for a jury to stay objective. This is not the same with later compositions like Dvorak, Schumann or Tchaikovsky. With Dvorak, the music comes more from the heart and less from the head, whereas with Haydn, there is more head and a little less heart. Nobody comes up to you after you’ve played the Dvorak and lectures you about how it is “supposed” to be played, questioning what comes from your heart. The Dvorak is more engaged with human feelings than concertos of earlier periods.

Do you tell young people to play competitions?

Competitions have become an integral part of the process of determining who will be promoted and who will not. But competitios are- or better I should say: competition IS a part of life, and not just in music. Every concert is a so-called competition with yourself, since you want to play your best. We compete for positions in orchestras, and we compete for teaching positions. Quartet playing, where there is a constant give and take between one's colleagues, can be like a competition too. A festival is a competition, in that there are many teachers here who have students performing, and we want them to do their best. Life is a competition altogether and that's okay with me.

 

Arto Noras, Founder and Artistic Director of the Naantali Music Festival and the International Paulo Cello Competition, is one of Finland's most celebrated performers and among the world’s most outstanding cellists. He is known as an expressive and technically brilliant soloist as well as an intense and sensitive chamber musician.
Following studies with Professor Yrjo Selin at the Sibelius Academy, Arto Noras went on to work with Paul Tortelier at the Paris Conservatoire where he received the coveted Premier Prix diploma in 1964. Two years later he was awarded second prize in the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, which launched an international career that has brought appearances at the most important concert halls of Europe, Asia and both North and South America where he has performed regularly ever since.
Arto Noras is in considerable demand as a jurist for the world’s most important competitions. He has served on the juries of the Tchaikovsky, Casals, Rostropovitch and Cassado competitions and he gives masterclasses throughout the world.

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