Americans and Brits are shunned in finals of the Reine Elisabeth
mainThe prestigious Belgian contest is down to the last 12 singers. Seven are continental Europeans. The other five are from the Far East.
Anti-Anglo bias among the judges?
Here’s the list:
Jodie Devos (Belgium, pictured)
Emoke Baráth (Hngary)
Sarah Laulan (France)
Hyesang Park (South Korea)
Chiara Skerath (Switzerland)
Hansung Yoo (South Korea)
Sumi Hwang (South Korea)
Seung Jick Kim (South Korea)
Sheva Tehoval (Belgium)
Yu Shao (China)
Levente Pall (Rumania)
Daniela Gerstenmeyer (Germany)
Anti-Anglo bias? Out of 73 candidates there were merely 3 Americans and 1 Briton to begin with. Statistically that makes it rather unlikely to see one or more of the 4 advance into the final round (even if you counted the other anglophones; 5 Canadians and 1 Australian). In any case, hardly grounds to speculate about anti-anglo biases.
Let’s not get paranoid. The Far East produces excellent singers (and an excellent market!) and I could certainly imagine that Chiara Skerath is there on merath (sorry, couldn’t resist it). Interesting that that traditional powerhouse of international opera stardom, Belgium, managed to produce two finalists, though…
No anti-anglo jury at all… These candidates were just better. Stop thinking you are the center of the world…especially when we’re talking about lyrical singing !
Could it be possible that the American and British contestants were simply not as talented?
Anti-Anglo bias? Out of 73 candidates there were merely 3 Americans and 1 Briton to begin with. Statistically that makes it rather unlikely to see one or more of the 4 advance into the final round (even if you counted the other anglophones; 5 Canadians and 1 Australian). In any case, hardly grounds to speculate about anti-anglo bias.
May be the Anglos are not that good?
A more interesting story is the number of South Koreans. It’ll be my ignorance, no doubt, but the only other I only know of is Sumi Jo. Is South Korea a hot-bed of singing talent?
Apparently yes, and as it seems elsewhere, this may not be restricted to vocal talent alone. Would be interesting to know, how this has evolved, and what South Korea is doing better than other countries. Any insights anyone?
No Russian finalist either. That’s even more surprising, considering the huge amount of raw and refined talent Russia has produced in the last decades. How come you didn’t speculate about anti-Russian bias? 😉