No Brits in Salzburg baton race
mainThe UK had contenders in the final three spots of the Nestlé-Salzburg Conductors Award in each of the past three years, with Ben Gernon winning outright in 2013 and Jamie Phillips coming second the year before. But 2015 is a Brit-free year in Salzburg.
The finalists, chosen by Dennis Russell Davies (pictured) and Plácido Domingo, are:
Jiri Rozen (23), Czech Republic
Giedrė Šlekytė (25), Lithuania
Lorenzo Viotti (25), Switzerland
Well, no French, no Germans, no Americans, no Italians either. What’s the point?
Domingo had absolutely no say in the choice. He is only an honorary President of the Jury.
Who cares. Interesting is that Ms. Giedrė Šlekytė is not only a finalist for the Nestlé-Salzburg Conductors Award but also one of the candidates of the 2015 Malko Competition taking place in April (you do remember that one… https://slippedisc.com/2015/01/only-four-women-allowed-in-conducting-finals/).
Given that the UK represents less than 0.9 percent of the population of the world, I am not sure why this should be considered so remarkable.
Marcello Viotti’s son…
Nice, he would have been proud.