GENTLE GIANT
Leeds Town Hall is packed. Waiting for the results of the jury’s deliberations, the audience is on tenterhooks. Finally, jury chair Dame Imogen Cooper and her colleagues take to the stage. As she announces the results, the odds of 23-year-old Alim Beisembayev taking First Prize at the 2021 Leeds International Piano Competition narrow, and I can feel the tension rising. And, yes – he has won. A roar of applause – almost relief, really – erupts through the hall. Smiling, and frankly a touch dazed, Beisembayev clutches his trophy and takes in the acclaim.
The Kazakh pianist isn’t exactly an unknown quantity or a bolt from the blue. I’ve seen him play in London and Beijing: how he didn’t make it through to the finals of
