I have received the following letter from Roberto Minczuk, music director of the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra.

Dear Norman Lebrecht,

 

After hearing and reading many untruthful letters and messages mostly on the internet, it is very important to clarify some key facts concerning the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra and the present evaluation process.  

 

First of all, the purpose of the evaluation is not to fire or dismiss anyone – nobody that participates in the auditions will be dismissed. As part of the deal to improve musicians’ working conditions, including raising the wages, the Board of OSB Foundation decided to go through an evaluation process. It is important to emphasize that Brazilian Symphony Orchestra Foundation is private and to support itself counts on the sponsorship of more than thirty private and public companies and institutions.

 

These evaluations will help fix a few old problems. There are, for instance, no written records for admissions for the orchestra prior to 2006.  It is a known fact that often auditions were held in a very informal way and did not follow standards that guarantee fairness and exemption. They were not held behind the screens and the repertoire was over simplified in all positions.  There are in the orchestra musicians who were admitted without any formal auditions even in key positions which generate much complain among the musicians themselves. 

 

After being heard individually in the evaluations, musicians will be given feedback and will have the opportunity to show improvement. In addition, we are fully aware that musicians that have been playing in the group for more than twenty years might not be in the same shape of younger players. Even so, we know how much experienced musicians can contribute to the orchestra’s routine. The evaluation will be considered, as I personally wrote to all musicians, only one component part of the process of development of the orchestra. 

 

We took special care that everybody had the opportunity to prepare themselves. Besides the regular vacation of the 41 days, the musicians where given another month of paid vacation to dedicate themselves only to preparing for the evaluation.

 

When I was first invited to become Brazilian Symphony Orchestra’s Artistic Director, five and a half years ago, the orchestra wasn’t fully organized in its internal structure and the Foundation’s total budget was around three million dollars. Musicians had a very low monthly salary of 1.200,00 to 1.800,00 US dollars that often was delayed up to six months. That situation appeared to me as the biggest challenge of my life, even greater than the one I had faced side by side with John Neschling in São Paulo (1997 – 2005), when we worked hard to restructure Osesp (São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra). 

 

After last year’s season, when we celebrated Brazilian Symphony Orchestra’s seventieth anniversary, the general conditions had significantly changed for the better. In 2011, the annual budget is approximately of twenty million dollars, the deficit is settled and the salaries can reach up to 6.500,00 US
dollars (x 13) plus benefits
, accumulating a total of eight five thousand dollars yearly plus health insurance.

 

I hope I have clarified some of the misunderstanding and I would like you to feel free to contact me for any further information you might need.

 

Sincerely,

 

Roberto Minczuk


I have received the following letter from Roberto Minczuk, music director of the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra.

Dear Norman Lebrecht,

 

After hearing and reading many untruthful letters and messages mostly on the internet, it is very important to clarify some key facts concerning the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra and the present evaluation process.  

 

First of all, the purpose of the evaluation is not to fire or dismiss anyone – nobody that participates in the auditions will be dismissed. As part of the deal to improve musicians’ working conditions, including raising the wages, the Board of OSB Foundation decided to go through an evaluation process. It is important to emphasize that Brazilian Symphony Orchestra Foundation is private and to support itself counts on the sponsorship of more than thirty private and public companies and institutions.

 

These evaluations will help fix a few old problems. There are, for instance, no written records for admissions for the orchestra prior to 2006.  It is a known fact that often auditions were held in a very informal way and did not follow standards that guarantee fairness and exemption. They were not held behind the screens and the repertoire was over simplified in all positions.  There are in the orchestra musicians who were admitted without any formal auditions even in key positions which generate much complain among the musicians themselves. 

 

After being heard individually in the evaluations, musicians will be given feedback and will have the opportunity to show improvement. In addition, we are fully aware that musicians that have been playing in the group for more than twenty years might not be in the same shape of younger players. Even so, we know how much experienced musicians can contribute to the orchestra’s routine. The evaluation will be considered, as I personally wrote to all musicians, only one component part of the process of development of the orchestra. 

 

We took special care that everybody had the opportunity to prepare themselves. Besides the regular vacation of the 41 days, the musicians where given another month of paid vacation to dedicate themselves only to preparing for the evaluation.

 

When I was first invited to become Brazilian Symphony Orchestra’s Artistic Director, five and a half years ago, the orchestra wasn’t fully organized in its internal structure and the Foundation’s total budget was around three million dollars. Musicians had a very low monthly salary of 1.200,00 to 1.800,00 US dollars that often was delayed up to six months. That situation appeared to me as the biggest challenge of my life, even greater than the one I had faced side by side with John Neschling in São Paulo (1997 – 2005), when we worked hard to restructure Osesp (São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra). 

 

After last year’s season, when we celebrated Brazilian Symphony Orchestra’s seventieth anniversary, the general conditions had significantly changed for the better. In 2011, the annual budget is approximately of twenty million dollars, the deficit is settled and the salaries can reach up to 6.500,00 US
dollars (x 13) plus benefits
, accumulating a total of eight five thousand dollars yearly plus health insurance.

 

I hope I have clarified some of the misunderstanding and I would like you to feel free to contact me for any further information you might need.

 

Sincerely,

 

Roberto Minczuk


Valery Gergiev has announced the line-up for this summer’s Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, a event dogged in the past by Soviet corruption and, in more recent times, by mediocrity.

Candidates this time have been chosen by independent international jurors. Several are already out on the world stage, among them the pianists Daniil Trifonov (Russia) and Boris Giltburg (Israel), and the winners of various other competitions. Here’s the piano jury at work.

And this is David Geringas, checking out the cellos.
Whether Gergiev has the presence and the will to root out the usual dealings and shenanigans in the Moscow contest remains to be seen. The Tchaikovsky ought to be a world leader. It has not been so for decades.
Press release follows.

XIV
International
Tchaikovsky Competition 2011


122
musicians from 29 countries to compete in four categories


Moscow/St
Petersburg June 14-July 2, 2011

MOSCOW,
RUSSIA – 30 pianists, 27 violinists, 25 cellists, 20 female singers and 20
male singers will compete in this year’s International
Tchaikovsky Competition, to take place between June 14th and July 2nd in
Moscow and St Petersburg under the chairmanship of Valery Gergiev. The
musicians, aged between 16 and 32, come from 29 countries, and were selected by
the distinguished judging panels from the 583 entrants who made an initial
submission of a recital on DVD (50 minutes for instrumentalists, 20 minutes for
singers). For this year’s landmark competition, revised procedures have been
introduced for voting and online applications, as has a new set of rules and
regulations.

The exceptional standard of the competitors – aspiring to a
share of the 300,000 Euro prize money and the assurance of prestigious
engagements in Europe, the USA and Asia – becomes clear from their track record
to date.

Among them are laureates of such competitions as the:

PIANO
Tchaikovsky, Busoni, Chopin, Cliburn, Dublin, Queen Elisabeth, Hamamatsu,
Horowitz, Iturbi, Leeds, Long-Thibaud, Paderewski, Rachmaninoff,
Rubinstein;
VIOLIN ARD, Heifetz, Menuhin, Oistrakh, Paganini,
Sarasate, Varga, Wieniawski;
CELLO Beijing, Brahms, Cassado, Davidov,
Janigro, Johansen, Lutoslawski, Mravinsky, Penderecki, Rostropovich,
Unisa;
VOICE Callas, Glinka, Houston Grand Opera, Metropolitan
National Council, Montreal, Obraztsova, Rimsky-Korsakov,
Vishnevskaya.

They have performed with conductors such as Ashkenazy,
Conlon, Fedoseev, Gilbert, Neeme Järvi, Maazel, Pletnev, Rostropovich, Michael
Sanderling, Simonov, Sinaisky and Spivakov, with orchestras such as the Bavarian
Radio Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Deutsche Symphony Orchestra, Moscow
Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Saint
Petersburg Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic and Vienna Radio Symphony, and in
venues such as Carnegie Hall, Washington Kennedy Center, Barbican, Royal Albert
Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin
Philharmonie, Brussels Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris Auditorium du Louvre, la
Fenice Venice, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Oslo Opera, Teatro Municipal de
Santiago de Chile, Tokyo Opera City and Shanghai Concert Hall.

“I was
extremely pleased to learn from our screening jurors how excited they were to
have heard the many wonderful talents they have selected to participate in the
competition,” says Competition Chairman Valery Gergiev. “They achieved
remarkable consensus in their choice of the most outstanding
musicians.”

This view was reflected by David Geringas, who chaired
the screening jury for the cellists: “I believe that our jury was able to
identify 25 musicians of a very high artistic level. I’m looking forward to
June, when they will play, and we can expect a thrilling competition in
2011.”

Prize dates
Among the engagements awaiting the
winners of the XIV International
Tchaikovsky Competition are: concerts conducted by Valery Gergiev – with the
London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican (September 2011) and on a visit to the
Vienna Konzerthaus (May 2012), and with the Mariinsky Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
(October 2011) and in Baden-Baden (September/October 2011) – and further dates
in Paris at Salle Pleyel (January 2012), in Bonn at the Beethovenfest (September
2011), in Austria at Grafenegg (June 2012), and a tour of the Netherlands
(October 2011) with Het Gelders Orkest and Nikolai Alexeev, including the
Concertgebouw; in Italy, concerts in Milan with the Verdi Orchestra (Autumn
2011), in Florence with the Maggio Musicale (January 2012), and recital
appearances around the country in the 2011/12 season); in Poland, appearances at
the Chopin Festival (August 2011) and the Warsaw Beethoven Festival (April
2012). Russian engagements are scheduled for Autumn 2011 with the Russian
National Orchestra and Mikhail Pletnev (September), the Saint-Petersburg
Academic Symphony Orchestra (October) and the State Symphony Orchestra of Russia
(November). Dates are also scheduled for Jerusalem (2011), Istanbul (2012) and
Athens (2012/13). In Japan, there will be a gala concert at Suntory Hall in
Tokyo (September 2011) and recital tours around the country (Spring 2012), while
US plans include orchestral dates and appearances in a number of major recital
series in 2011/12, among them the La Jolla Music Society and the Houston Society
for the Performing Arts (both February 2012).

THE
COMPETITORS:

PIANO
• Arseny Aristov (Russia)
• Evgeny
Brakhman (Russia)
• Yulia Chaplina (Russia)
• Yunjie Chen (China)
•
Seong Jin Cho (South Korea)
• Sara Daneshpour (USA)
• Andrey Dubov
(Russia)
• Boris Giltburg (Israel)
• Georgy Gromov (Russia)
• Ching-Yun
Hu (Taiwan)
• Shinnosuke Inugai (Japan)
• Stanislav Khristenko
(Russia)
• Dinara Klinton (Russia)
• Pavel Kolesnikov (Russia)
•
Jianing Kong (China)
• Filipp Kopachevskiy (Russia)
• Eduard Kunz
(Russia)
• Alexander Lubyantsev (Russia)
• Mamikon Nakhapetov
(Georgia)
• Jong-Hai Park (South Korea)
• François-Xavier Poizat
(Switzerland)
• Alexander Romanovsky (Ukraine)
• Ekaterina Rybina (Russia)

• Timur Scherbakov (Belarus)
• Alexander Sinchuk (Russia)
• Yeol Eum
Son (South Korea)
• Maria Tretyakova (Russia)
• Daniil Trifonov
(Russia)
• Andrew Tyson (USA)
• Lukas Vondrá?ek (Czech Republic)

VIOLIN
•
Christopher Tun Andersen (Norway)
• Nigel Armstrong (USA)
• Hrachya
Avanesyan (Armenia)
• Andrey Baranov (Russia)
• Sergey Dogadin
(Russia)
• Yoo Jin Jang (South Korea)
• Dalibor Karvay (Slovakia)
•
Fabiola Kim (USA)
• Mayu Kishima (Japan)
• Tessa Lark (USA)
• Jehye Lee
(South Korea)
• Marisol Lee (South Korea)
• Sergey Malov (Russia)
•
Albrecht Menzel (Germany)
• Pavel Milyukov (Russia)
• Ivan Pochekin
(Russia)
• Aylen Pritchin (Russia)
• Fedor Roudine (France)
• Oleksii
Semenenko (Ukraine)
• Elena Semenova (Russia)
• Eric Silberger (USA)
•
Lev Solodovnikov (Russia)
• Yu-Chien Tseng (Taiwan)
• Julia Turnovsky
(Austria)
• Xiang Yu (China)
• Nancy Zhou (USA)
• Itamar Zorman
(Israel)

CELLO
•
Narek Akhnazaryan (Armenia)
• Norbert Anger (Germany)
• Paolo Bonomini
(Italy)
• Attilia Kiyoko Cernitori (Italy)
• Jacqueline Choi (USA)
•
Umberto Clerici (Italy)
• David Eggert (Austria)
• Hans Kristian Goldstein
(Norway)
• Woo Lee Jang (South Korea)
• Seung Min Kang (South Korea)
•
Ivan Karizna (Belarus)
• Jakob Koranyi (Sweden)
• Ruodi Li (China)
•
Anna Maria Litvinenko (USA)
• Bingxia Lu (China)
• Edgar Moreau
(France)
• Samuli Vilhelmi Peltonen (Finland)
• Valentin Radutiu
(Germany)
• Alexander Ramm (Russia)
• David Joshua Roman (USA)
• Janina
Ruh (Germany)
• Stéphane Tetreault (Canada)
• Matthew Zalkind (USA)
•
Alexey Zhilin (Russia)
• Xian Zhuo (China)

VOICE
Female
•
Maria Bayankina (Russia)
• Oksana Davydenko (Kazakhstan)
• Aude Extremo
(France)
• Ekaterina Ferzba (Russia)
• Gelena Gaskarova (Russia)
•
Maria Gorelova (Russia)
• Elena Guseva (Russia)
• Alfiya Karimova
(Russia)
• Veronika Koval (Ukraine)
• Nadine Koutcher (Belarus)
•
Alexandra Martynova (Russia)
• Evgeniya Morozova (Russia)
• Angelina
Nikitchenko (Russia)
• Yannick-Muriel Noah (Canada)
• Olga Pudova
(Russia)
• Julia Savrasova (Russia)
• Sun Young Seo (South Korea)
•
Elena Terentyeva (Russia)
• Jung Nan Yoon (South Korea)
• Jing Zheng
(China)

Male
•
Migran Agadjanyan (Russia)
• Vadim Chernigovsky (Ukraine)
• Enkhtaivan
Chimed (Mongolia)
• Dmitry Demidchik (Belarus)
• Amartuvshin Enkhbat
(Mongolia)
• Mikhail Geine (Russia)
• Andriy Goniukov (Ukraine)
•
Gevorg Grigoryan (Russia)
• Byambajav Jargalsaikhan (Mongolia)
• Mikhail
Korobeinikov (Russia)
• Viktor Korotich (Ukraine)
• Jong Min Park (South
Korea)
• Boris Pinkhasovich (Russia)
• Victor Ryauzov (Russia)
• Artem
Safronov (Latvia)
• Nikolay Shamov (Russia)
• Konstantin Shushakov
(Russia)
• Grigory Somov (Russia)
• Alexey Tatarintsev (Russia)
•
Azamat Zheltyrguzov (Kazakhstan)

For
further information please contact:
Simon Millward simon@albion-media.com 020
3077 4940
Samantha Holderness samantha@albion-media.com
020 3077 4943
www.albion-media.com
www.tchaikovsky-competition.com

Editors’
Notes

About
the International
Tchaikovsky Competition

For
more than 50 years, the International
Tchaikovsky Competition has been regarded internationally as one of the
major events in the global music community and as an outstanding opportunity for
extraordinary young musicians to gain international recognition and establish
their careers. In Russia, the event is considered one of the country’s most
valuable cultural assets.

The
International
Tchaikovsky Competition is held once every four years. The first, in 1958,
embraced two disciplines – piano and violin. In 1962, a cello category was
added, and the vocal division (with separate prizes for men and women) was
introduced at the third competition in 1966.

Among
the competition winners who have achieved worldwide recognition are: pianists
Van Cliburn, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mikhail Pletnev and Grigory Sokolov; violinists
Gidon Kremer, Vladimir Spivakov, Viktoria Mullova; cellists Antonio Meneses,
Natalia Gutman and Mario Brunello; and singers Evgeny Nesterenko, Paata
Burchuladze, Elena Obraztsova and Deborah Voigt.

Under
the competition chairmanship of such figures as Dmitri Shostakovich, Emil Gilels
and Mstislav Rostropovich, past juries have included such legendary names as
Sviatoslav Richter, Aram Khachaturian, David Oistrakh, Gregor Piatigorsky,
Heinrich Neuhaus, Nadia Boulanger, Krzysztof Penderecki, Dmitri Kabalevsky,
Irina Arkhipova, George London, Lev Oborin, Pierre Fournier, Maria Callas,
Leonard Rose, Eugene List, Georgy Svirdov, Mario Del Monaco, Leonid Kogan, Carlo
Zecchi, Joseph Szigeti, Fiorenza Cossotto, Natalia Gutman, Shlomo Mintz, Bidu
Sayao and Magda Tagliaferro.

The XIV International
Tchaikovsky Competition, 2011

The
Chairman of the 2011 Organising Committee is conductor Valery Gergiev, one of
the most celebrated and influential musicians in the world today.

Leading
Russian orchestras are invited to perform with the finalists in the last round
of the competition. In 2011, for the first time, the competition will be
presented simultaneously at a number of halls in both Moscow and St Petersburg.
Moscow will host the piano and cello competitions, while St. Petersburg will
present the violin and vocal competitions.

Jury
members in 2011 include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Barry Douglas, Nelson Freire,
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Maxim Vengerov, Antonio Meneses, Teresa Berganza, Renata
Scotto, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Krzysztof Penderecki. Van Cliburn is Honorary
Chairman of the Piano Competition; Honorary Chairman of the Vocal Competition is
Plácido Domingo. For the complete list of jury members, please visit the
Tchaikovsky website www.tchaikovsky-competition.com

The
total fund of prize money for the XIV International
Tchaikovsky Competition – which is being run in accordance with new sets of
rules, regulations and procedures for application and voting – is approximately
300,000 Euros. In addition, the XIV International
Tchaikovsky Competition will collaborate with three major artist management
agencies in Russia, the US and the UK to organise concert engagements over three
years for prizewinners, to include performances with Valery Gergiev.

Valery Gergiev has announced the line-up for this summer’s Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, a event dogged in the past by Soviet corruption and, in more recent times, by mediocrity.

Candidates this time have been chosen by independent international jurors. Several are already out on the world stage, among them the pianists Daniil Trifonov (Russia) and Boris Giltburg (Israel), and the winners of various other competitions. Here’s the piano jury at work.

And this is David Geringas, checking out the cellos.
Whether Gergiev has the presence and the will to root out the usual dealings and shenanigans in the Moscow contest remains to be seen. The Tchaikovsky ought to be a world leader. It has not been so for decades.
Press release follows.

XIV
International
Tchaikovsky Competition 2011


122
musicians from 29 countries to compete in four categories


Moscow/St
Petersburg June 14-July 2, 2011

MOSCOW,
RUSSIA – 30 pianists, 27 violinists, 25 cellists, 20 female singers and 20
male singers will compete in this year’s International
Tchaikovsky Competition, to take place between June 14th and July 2nd in
Moscow and St Petersburg under the chairmanship of Valery Gergiev. The
musicians, aged between 16 and 32, come from 29 countries, and were selected by
the distinguished judging panels from the 583 entrants who made an initial
submission of a recital on DVD (50 minutes for instrumentalists, 20 minutes for
singers). For this year’s landmark competition, revised procedures have been
introduced for voting and online applications, as has a new set of rules and
regulations.

The exceptional standard of the competitors – aspiring to a
share of the 300,000 Euro prize money and the assurance of prestigious
engagements in Europe, the USA and Asia – becomes clear from their track record
to date.

Among them are laureates of such competitions as the:

PIANO
Tchaikovsky, Busoni, Chopin, Cliburn, Dublin, Queen Elisabeth, Hamamatsu,
Horowitz, Iturbi, Leeds, Long-Thibaud, Paderewski, Rachmaninoff,
Rubinstein;
VIOLIN ARD, Heifetz, Menuhin, Oistrakh, Paganini,
Sarasate, Varga, Wieniawski;
CELLO Beijing, Brahms, Cassado, Davidov,
Janigro, Johansen, Lutoslawski, Mravinsky, Penderecki, Rostropovich,
Unisa;
VOICE Callas, Glinka, Houston Grand Opera, Metropolitan
National Council, Montreal, Obraztsova, Rimsky-Korsakov,
Vishnevskaya.

They have performed with conductors such as Ashkenazy,
Conlon, Fedoseev, Gilbert, Neeme Järvi, Maazel, Pletnev, Rostropovich, Michael
Sanderling, Simonov, Sinaisky and Spivakov, with orchestras such as the Bavarian
Radio Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Deutsche Symphony Orchestra, Moscow
Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, NHK Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Saint
Petersburg Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic and Vienna Radio Symphony, and in
venues such as Carnegie Hall, Washington Kennedy Center, Barbican, Royal Albert
Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin
Philharmonie, Brussels Palais des Beaux-Arts, Paris Auditorium du Louvre, la
Fenice Venice, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Oslo Opera, Teatro Municipal de
Santiago de Chile, Tokyo Opera City and Shanghai Concert Hall.

“I was
extremely pleased to learn from our screening jurors how excited they were to
have heard the many wonderful talents they have selected to participate in the
competition,” says Competition Chairman Valery Gergiev. “They achieved
remarkable consensus in their choice of the most outstanding
musicians.”

This view was reflected by David Geringas, who chaired
the screening jury for the cellists: “I believe that our jury was able to
identify 25 musicians of a very high artistic level. I’m looking forward to
June, when they will play, and we can expect a thrilling competition in
2011.”

Prize dates
Among the engagements awaiting the
winners of the XIV International
Tchaikovsky Competition are: concerts conducted by Valery Gergiev – with the
London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican (September 2011) and on a visit to the
Vienna Konzerthaus (May 2012), and with the Mariinsky Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
(October 2011) and in Baden-Baden (September/October 2011) – and further dates
in Paris at Salle Pleyel (January 2012), in Bonn at the Beethovenfest (September
2011), in Austria at Grafenegg (June 2012), and a tour of the Netherlands
(October 2011) with Het Gelders Orkest and Nikolai Alexeev, including the
Concertgebouw; in Italy, concerts in Milan with the Verdi Orchestra (Autumn
2011), in Florence with the Maggio Musicale (January 2012), and recital
appearances around the country in the 2011/12 season); in Poland, appearances at
the Chopin Festival (August 2011) and the Warsaw Beethoven Festival (April
2012). Russian engagements are scheduled for Autumn 2011 with the Russian
National Orchestra and Mikhail Pletnev (September), the Saint-Petersburg
Academic Symphony Orchestra (October) and the State Symphony Orchestra of Russia
(November). Dates are also scheduled for Jerusalem (2011), Istanbul (2012) and
Athens (2012/13). In Japan, there will be a gala concert at Suntory Hall in
Tokyo (September 2011) and recital tours around the country (Spring 2012), while
US plans include orchestral dates and appearances in a number of major recital
series in 2011/12, among them the La Jolla Music Society and the Houston Society
for the Performing Arts (both February 2012).

THE
COMPETITORS:

PIANO
• Arseny Aristov (Russia)
• Evgeny
Brakhman (Russia)
• Yulia Chaplina (Russia)
• Yunjie Chen (China)
•
Seong Jin Cho (South Korea)
• Sara Daneshpour (USA)
• Andrey Dubov
(Russia)
• Boris Giltburg (Israel)
• Georgy Gromov (Russia)
• Ching-Yun
Hu (Taiwan)
• Shinnosuke Inugai (Japan)
• Stanislav Khristenko
(Russia)
• Dinara Klinton (Russia)
• Pavel Kolesnikov (Russia)
•
Jianing Kong (China)
• Filipp Kopachevskiy (Russia)
• Eduard Kunz
(Russia)
• Alexander Lubyantsev (Russia)
• Mamikon Nakhapetov
(Georgia)
• Jong-Hai Park (South Korea)
• François-Xavier Poizat
(Switzerland)
• Alexander Romanovsky (Ukraine)
• Ekaterina Rybina (Russia)

• Timur Scherbakov (Belarus)
• Alexander Sinchuk (Russia)
• Yeol Eum
Son (South Korea)
• Maria Tretyakova (Russia)
• Daniil Trifonov
(Russia)
• Andrew Tyson (USA)
• Lukas Vondrá?ek (Czech Republic)

VIOLIN
•
Christopher Tun Andersen (Norway)
• Nigel Armstrong (USA)
• Hrachya
Avanesyan (Armenia)
• Andrey Baranov (Russia)
• Sergey Dogadin
(Russia)
• Yoo Jin Jang (South Korea)
• Dalibor Karvay (Slovakia)
•
Fabiola Kim (USA)
• Mayu Kishima (Japan)
• Tessa Lark (USA)
• Jehye Lee
(South Korea)
• Marisol Lee (South Korea)
• Sergey Malov (Russia)
•
Albrecht Menzel (Germany)
• Pavel Milyukov (Russia)
• Ivan Pochekin
(Russia)
• Aylen Pritchin (Russia)
• Fedor Roudine (France)
• Oleksii
Semenenko (Ukraine)
• Elena Semenova (Russia)
• Eric Silberger (USA)
•
Lev Solodovnikov (Russia)
• Yu-Chien Tseng (Taiwan)
• Julia Turnovsky
(Austria)
• Xiang Yu (China)
• Nancy Zhou (USA)
• Itamar Zorman
(Israel)

CELLO
•
Narek Akhnazaryan (Armenia)
• Norbert Anger (Germany)
• Paolo Bonomini
(Italy)
• Attilia Kiyoko Cernitori (Italy)
• Jacqueline Choi (USA)
•
Umberto Clerici (Italy)
• David Eggert (Austria)
• Hans Kristian Goldstein
(Norway)
• Woo Lee Jang (South Korea)
• Seung Min Kang (South Korea)
•
Ivan Karizna (Belarus)
• Jakob Koranyi (Sweden)
• Ruodi Li (China)
•
Anna Maria Litvinenko (USA)
• Bingxia Lu (China)
• Edgar Moreau
(France)
• Samuli Vilhelmi Peltonen (Finland)
• Valentin Radutiu
(Germany)
• Alexander Ramm (Russia)
• David Joshua Roman (USA)
• Janina
Ruh (Germany)
• Stéphane Tetreault (Canada)
• Matthew Zalkind (USA)
•
Alexey Zhilin (Russia)
• Xian Zhuo (China)

VOICE
Female
•
Maria Bayankina (Russia)
• Oksana Davydenko (Kazakhstan)
• Aude Extremo
(France)
• Ekaterina Ferzba (Russia)
• Gelena Gaskarova (Russia)
•
Maria Gorelova (Russia)
• Elena Guseva (Russia)
• Alfiya Karimova
(Russia)
• Veronika Koval (Ukraine)
• Nadine Koutcher (Belarus)
•
Alexandra Martynova (Russia)
• Evgeniya Morozova (Russia)
• Angelina
Nikitchenko (Russia)
• Yannick-Muriel Noah (Canada)
• Olga Pudova
(Russia)
• Julia Savrasova (Russia)
• Sun Young Seo (South Korea)
•
Elena Terentyeva (Russia)
• Jung Nan Yoon (South Korea)
• Jing Zheng
(China)

Male
•
Migran Agadjanyan (Russia)
• Vadim Chernigovsky (Ukraine)
• Enkhtaivan
Chimed (Mongolia)
• Dmitry Demidchik (Belarus)
• Amartuvshin Enkhbat
(Mongolia)
• Mikhail Geine (Russia)
• Andriy Goniukov (Ukraine)
•
Gevorg Grigoryan (Russia)
• Byambajav Jargalsaikhan (Mongolia)
• Mikhail
Korobeinikov (Russia)
• Viktor Korotich (Ukraine)
• Jong Min Park (South
Korea)
• Boris Pinkhasovich (Russia)
• Victor Ryauzov (Russia)
• Artem
Safronov (Latvia)
• Nikolay Shamov (Russia)
• Konstantin Shushakov
(Russia)
• Grigory Somov (Russia)
• Alexey Tatarintsev (Russia)
•
Azamat Zheltyrguzov (Kazakhstan)

For
further information please contact:
Simon Millward simon@albion-media.com 020
3077 4940
Samantha Holderness samantha@albion-media.com
020 3077 4943
www.albion-media.com
www.tchaikovsky-competition.com

Editors’
Notes

About
the International
Tchaikovsky Competition

For
more than 50 years, the International
Tchaikovsky Competition has been regarded internationally as one of the
major events in the global music community and as an outstanding opportunity for
extraordinary young musicians to gain international recognition and establish
their careers. In Russia, the event is considered one of the country’s most
valuable cultural assets.

The
International
Tchaikovsky Competition is held once every four years. The first, in 1958,
embraced two disciplines – piano and violin. In 1962, a cello category was
added, and the vocal division (with separate prizes for men and women) was
introduced at the third competition in 1966.

Among
the competition winners who have achieved worldwide recognition are: pianists
Van Cliburn, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mikhail Pletnev and Grigory Sokolov; violinists
Gidon Kremer, Vladimir Spivakov, Viktoria Mullova; cellists Antonio Meneses,
Natalia Gutman and Mario Brunello; and singers Evgeny Nesterenko, Paata
Burchuladze, Elena Obraztsova and Deborah Voigt.

Under
the competition chairmanship of such figures as Dmitri Shostakovich, Emil Gilels
and Mstislav Rostropovich, past juries have included such legendary names as
Sviatoslav Richter, Aram Khachaturian, David Oistrakh, Gregor Piatigorsky,
Heinrich Neuhaus, Nadia Boulanger, Krzysztof Penderecki, Dmitri Kabalevsky,
Irina Arkhipova, George London, Lev Oborin, Pierre Fournier, Maria Callas,
Leonard Rose, Eugene List, Georgy Svirdov, Mario Del Monaco, Leonid Kogan, Carlo
Zecchi, Joseph Szigeti, Fiorenza Cossotto, Natalia Gutman, Shlomo Mintz, Bidu
Sayao and Magda Tagliaferro.

The XIV International
Tchaikovsky Competition, 2011

The
Chairman of the 2011 Organising Committee is conductor Valery Gergiev, one of
the most celebrated and influential musicians in the world today.

Leading
Russian orchestras are invited to perform with the finalists in the last round
of the competition. In 2011, for the first time, the competition will be
presented simultaneously at a number of halls in both Moscow and St Petersburg.
Moscow will host the piano and cello competitions, while St. Petersburg will
present the violin and vocal competitions.

Jury
members in 2011 include Vladimir Ashkenazy, Barry Douglas, Nelson Freire,
Anne-Sophie Mutter, Maxim Vengerov, Antonio Meneses, Teresa Berganza, Renata
Scotto, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Krzysztof Penderecki. Van Cliburn is Honorary
Chairman of the Piano Competition; Honorary Chairman of the Vocal Competition is
Plácido Domingo. For the complete list of jury members, please visit the
Tchaikovsky website www.tchaikovsky-competition.com

The
total fund of prize money for the XIV International
Tchaikovsky Competition – which is being run in accordance with new sets of
rules, regulations and procedures for application and voting – is approximately
300,000 Euros. In addition, the XIV International
Tchaikovsky Competition will collaborate with three major artist management
agencies in Russia, the US and the UK to organise concert engagements over three
years for prizewinners, to include performances with Valery Gergiev.

The ascent of Gustavo Dudamel from the streets of Caracas to the heights of maestro fame has been both musical fairy-tale and a case of flawless image management. The fairy-tale continues, but the first blip has just appeared on his hitherto immaculate record.

A Deutsche Grammophon release of three Tchaikovsky Shakespeare suites with the Simon Bolivar Orchestra is one of those productions that adds no value at all – not to Tchaikovsky, nor to Shakespeare, nor to the musicians and their conductor.
The performances are sharp and snazzy as you’d expect, but Hamlet’s torment is barely felt, the Tempest is no more than a summer squall and Romeo and Juliet as among the least romantic accounts I have endured.
Gustavo Dudamel: Tchaikovsky & Shakespeare
Why this should be so is not immediately clear. The recording was made in Caracas last February by a DG team with three named producers. That may have been two too many. Somebody needed to take responsibility, to stand up and tell the Dude to deliver – more passions, more penetration, more value. At 65 minutes long, the record could have been saved by an encore firework.
Sadly, it goes down as a dud.
Gustavo Dudamel: Tchaikovsky & Shakespeare

The ascent of Gustavo Dudamel from the streets of Caracas to the heights of maestro fame has been both musical fairy-tale and a case of flawless image management. The fairy-tale continues, but the first blip has just appeared on his hitherto immaculate record.

A Deutsche Grammophon release of three Tchaikovsky Shakespeare suites with the Simon Bolivar Orchestra is one of those productions that adds no value at all – not to Tchaikovsky, nor to Shakespeare, nor to the musicians and their conductor.
The performances are sharp and snazzy as you’d expect, but Hamlet’s torment is barely felt, the Tempest is no more than a summer squall and Romeo and Juliet as among the least romantic accounts I have endured.
Gustavo Dudamel: Tchaikovsky & Shakespeare
Why this should be so is not immediately clear. The recording was made in Caracas last February by a DG team with three named producers. That may have been two too many. Somebody needed to take responsibility, to stand up and tell the Dude to deliver – more passions, more penetration, more value. At 65 minutes long, the record could have been saved by an encore firework.
Sadly, it goes down as a dud.
Gustavo Dudamel: Tchaikovsky & Shakespeare

A second of the foreign ‘experts’ called in to re-audition members of the Brazil Symphony Orchestra for their jobs has withdrawn from the process. The judge, who has not been named, was persuaded to step down by James Wilt, associate principal trumpet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, who has been rallying support for the embattled musicians.

Here is Mr Wilt’s announcement on the trumpetherald message board:
One of the “consultants” has decided not to participate. This was done at considerable cost to this person, as they had to give up a week’s worth of salary to make the trip, and obviously will not be compensated for the time they would have spent in Brazil. It says a great deal to me about this person’s integrity. 

Still working on the other one I contacted. 

Good luck!
_________________
Jim Wilt 
LA Philharmonic 
Colburn School


Samba school particpant from Beija Flor

Yesterday, the violinist Isabelle Faust informed me that she was not taking part, despite having her name posted as one of the judges in the official Government diario. Stand by for further developments.

Facebook’s blackout protest appears to be winning this fight. Meanwhile, carnival continues.

Costumes from the Samba School Imperio Serrano

Participant of the parade from Beija Flor

photos: http://www.rio-carnival.net/