Mitsuko Uchida on the art of awarding musical excellence

Mitsuko Uchida talks to Nick Breckenfield about the Borletti-Buitoni Trust and why fun is a serious business

The classical music world has not escaped a modern artistic phenomenon of back-slapping. Whereas in art, books, popular music, films and television it is in the proliferation of award ceremonies, in classical music it is in new competitions. Mitsuko Uchida, taking a break from practising in her West London studio, clearly has misgivings about competitions, and will not now accept a position on a jury. "I have done it once and I decided thereafter that it was a waste of my time. I find competitions far too much of a lottery. It's a fact of life that some players are not suited to competitions, but does that mean therefore they are not acceptable for a musical career?"

Then, for a young artist (competition winner or not) there must be a mindset that they should never turn down any offer. "But that is a mistake," even though the pressure is great, especially when most of the great American and European seasons are taken up by well known and established artists, with only a very few slots available to newcomers. "And if the child prodigies take up those places" Uchida says fervently, "I really mind . . . I really do mind!"

"But life is tough and you must be lucky. However, my belief is very strong that if you do make beautiful music, you will always get a slot in due course. Provided you have musical understanding - musicianship as such - that takes into account intellectual capacity as well as overall knowledge and a kind of vision of nature." And there in a nutshell is the ethos of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust (BBT): "This whole thing is about helping out young talented people, who are already professional, during their "difficult years?"

Started in 2003, with its first awards and fellowships announced in 2004, the Borletti-Buitoni Trust has already fulfilled one of Uchida's avowed aims, to create a musical family, that amidst all the hard work of pursuing a career and the demands of making the best music also has time for some fun. Typically enthusiastic, Uchida takes up the theme: "Yes indeed. But fun is a serious business, and that is what I like!" The ability to take a step back and not rush headlong into every engagement offered, to take stock and think about wider things in life, rather than when to catch the next plane, are all things the BBT's awards and fellowships (which run over a period of two or three years) aim to help.

Putting things into such perspective - in essence making the awards almost non-musical - make the Trust unique.