France Experience-Tina algeri
France experience -
Paris is a city people dream to travel to. To be given the opportunity to compete in the
Gagny Concours international Piano competition was truly extraordinary. With no
hesitation, we immediately booked the tickets to Paris as I believe that going overseas for a
purpose is far better than going without a purpose. The airplane flight was rather difficult to
endure, 19 hours with an infant sitting behind you isn’t the most luxurious plane flight.
As we arrived in Paris, we immediately called a taxi to take us to our hotel. We were rather
cautious in the car ride as the people in poverty were heading towards cars and peaking into
windows disregarding who was in the car. By this time, my family were quite frightened as
we weren’t expecting this occurrence. We had finally arrived at the Hotel Du Pre, we had
received warm welcomes and were delighted by the antique rooms and furniture items. We
headed towards the breakfast room in the morning and was thrilled by the scent of freshly
baked croissants coming out of the oven. Sitting in the antique-themed breakfast bar with a
hot chocolate and warm croissants was truly iconic in the setting of Paris.
The first two days in Paris was rather relaxing for my family however was quite stressful for
me. I was drilling my competition pieces non-stop in preparation for the competition. I was
very determined. We were lucky enough to have a piano practice room nearby allowing us
to practice with two grand pianos at our own convenience. Just the day before the
competition, all the competitors from Perth, including myself, went as a group to Gagny to
discover the journey by train. We had realized that the train was the most convenient way
to travel to Gagny. Our Perth group had went into the Gagny music practice rooms which
was nearby the competition venue and this allowed us to practice in the rooms for a few
hours and then have a delicious lunch in Gagny afterwards. However, our Perth group did
have some difficulty on the way home as we had forgotten the exit way in the train station
and could not find our hotel, however, lucky for our navigation on our phones, we found our
hotel after an hour of walking in circles.
The competition day had come upon us and my family was very excited to travel to Gagny
again, however, this time for me to perform in the competition. My performance time was
1745 which allowed us to have a delicious breakfast and lunch at our own pace and a
relaxing rest. As we prepared to leave to Gagny, I put on my dress, applied makeup and my
whole family headed off to the competition by train. This time, we were aware of the
entrance and took note of the exit so that we will not have a mislead at night after the
competition. On the way to Gagny, I began to listen to the podcasts of my pieces that I was
competing for and held my hand warmers tightly. Once we arrived in Gagny, we walked
straight over to the competition venue and observed the first two competitors in the 12-15
years old category. The competition was organized in a very professional manner, providing
us 10 minutes each to have a practice on the Steinway and Sons Concert Grand Piano just
before the competition had begun. We then were allocated into different practice rooms,
30 minutes before we were on stage to begin warming up. At this point of time, my body
consisted of goosebumps all over and I was beginning to shake in coldness as the
temperature has dropped all so suddenly. I gripped my hand warmers even tighter and
began to head over to the stage. I walked amongst the cold air with my extensive dress
while hopping my way through the rain puddles. I dropped my hand warmers on the side of
the stage and walked up to the stage. I bowed to the audience with confidence and smiled
as I began to perform my competition pieces. I was very determined to perform the best I
can. Performing on the stage is truly a wonderful opportunity and it feels as if it is home to
me. When the competition had ended, we remained in Gagny and went to have some Pizza
for dinner as we awaited for the results. When the results and prize winners were
announced, we were called into the competition venue foyer and waited nervously in hope
for first prize. In the end, with all the hard work I had put into this competition, I received
first prize as well as the young soloists prize. My family was delighted by these results and
we were very grateful towards the adjudicators for giving me these prizes. Hearing some of
the adjudicators feedbacks however also made me realize that music is very subjective, and
is judged on a personal level, however, I am appreciative to hear everyone’s opinions in
hope for further improvements.
The day after my competition was the day that we began to go sightseeing. We visited the
Louvre museum in which we saw the Mona Lisa along with hundreds of tourists crowding
around it taking photos, I would have at least been in 100 photos. We then went to visit
Eiffel Tower, and it is quite large compared to the television at home. We didn’t go up the
Eiffel Tower as it was rather windy and chilly. There was, however, thousands of people
walking around the pathways so we decided to hire an electric scooter and ride along the
roads. In my opinion, the electric scooters are truly the best way to get around and are the
best method of transportation.
Regarding my winning prize, I was also given the opportunity to perform in the winners’
concert of the competition in which I was to perform Hungarian Rhapsody no.2 and receive
my prizes. The night of the winners concert was spectacular, I had received my prizes on
stage in which I also received a warm handshake from the Gagny Mayor. There was quite an
incident however as while I was performing the piece, one of my contacts had become very
dry and fell out of my pupil. It was rather disruptive however did not affect the joyful
sensation I had while I was performing. Once I went backstage, luckily, one of the
competitors had many bottles of contact cleansers, allowing me to readjust the contact
back into the pupil. It was a rather an eventful night. After that,the Perth competitors
travelled home together from the late night and began to prepare for the Paris conservatory
diploma exam for the following day.
The day of the piano exam could be described as superb and delightful. I had performed my
5 exam pieces with confidence and enjoyment and received a high distinction from the
examiners. My family and I were truly grateful towards this as we had worked really hard in
preparation for this.
Paris can be described in two words; peaceful and romantic. It was a great experience to
travel to the other side of the world and perform in such a marvelous competition. I would
like to give my gratitude towards Antoine Bouvy, who gave us the opportunity to visit such a
wonderful city and perform in this competition. He also organized the lovely hotel for us in a
terrific location and supplied us such a wonderful piano practice room nearby and took us to
a delicious lunch in Gagny. I would finally like to thank Mr Lee, who put so much effort in
making me succeed and has given me this opportunity to perform in competitions and win
prizes, I couldn’t have done it without him. The experience was truly unforgettable.
