A Czech wins Fritz Kreisler clean-hands competition
mainJan Mracek took the 15,000-Euro first prize in the Vienna Kreisler contest, which ended last night.
Second was William Hagen, third Emmanuel Tjeknavorian.
Jury members were specifically barred from have any of their students in the competition.
Jan is studying at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna with the concertmaster of the Wiener Symphoniker, Jan Pospichal.
I say the only fair way, apart from banning teachers, is to have all performances done behind a screen and based on a random number system so the jurors do not know who they are listening to.
I think it’s somewhat naïve to suppose that a teacher might not recognize her/his student’s playing. If we must have competitions at all, I’m all for banning teachers of participants.