I love playing new music because it seems so alive and relevant to me now. Just last week I heard this amazing piece by Scott for 10 players all playing inside of one piano. It is incredible that someone thought up such a fresh and innovative piece. Playing new music can be quite a challenge at times because often there are no recordings to listen to, so one is forced to really create a personal interpretation of a piece of music, and I like that. I also enjoy playing improvisations because they are a release from the score, and I think we all need that sometimes.
Competitions seem to be something that is necessary to do if one wants to have a performing career.
I suppose there are exceptions to that, but it seems many of the performing artists out there today started by participating in competitions. A lot of times you can get concerts engagements through a person or an organization because they heard you and liked your playing. It is not so important that you win, but rather that you are heard by the public and that you are getting out there. People can't offer you gigs if they don't know that you're out there doing what you're doing. I also think that it is important to get out of one's comfortable space and see how one fares with the pressures of a competition.