Breakthrough: No teachers on next Van Cliburn jury
mainA major competition has finally broken with the tyranny and collusion of conservatory teachers who vote for each others’ students.
The 2017 jury, all noted performers, will be:
Leonard Slatkin, jury chairman (United States)
Arnaldo Cohen (Brazil)
Jean-Philippe Collard (France)
Christopher Elton (United Kingdom)
Marc-André Hamelin (Canada)
Joseph Kalichstein (Israel)
Mari Kodama (Japan)
Anne-Marie McDermott (United States)
Alexander Toradze (United States/Georgia)
UPDATE: It has been pointed out that one of the above-named is primarily a teacher. He’s the token teacher on a panel of performers. This is a vast improvement on past Cliburns and general competition practice.
I see many teachers here…
Regardless, these are some great musicians!
So Christopher Elton is not a teacher.. last time I checked he is in the faculty for the Royal Academy of Music… Get the facts right first
He’s the exception that proves the rule.
Arnoldo Cohen, Christopher Elton, Alexander Toradze, Joseph Kalichstein are all teachers. And Kalichstein teaches at Juilliard… Sorry, but this is just “business as usual”.
They are not primarily teachers, or heads of department at heavyweight teaching institutions.
Arnoldo Cohen: Full-time professor, Indiana University in Bloomington
Alexander Toradze: Full-time professor, Indiana University in South Bend
Joseph Kalichstein: Full-time professor, Juilliard School
Christopher Elton: A full-time teacher – his student, the late Jose Fehgali, won the 1985 Cliburn.
The point is, and always has been, not whether judges teach, but whether any of their students are competing, thus conferring unfair advantage and removing any moral high ground and credibility from any competition. If not, there can be no objection to such judges on grounds of likely bias.
I wonder how much a one time lesson with Ms. McDermott will cost now.
I say the jury should be staffed by people who do not play the instrument or none at all. It’s about the music, not the technical nuances. Heck, music theorists should be the juries on these things!
Cohen has around 20 students and makes over $100,000 teaching (state university – all salaries are public).
That Hamelin would lower himself to this nonsense is puzzling.
Is Hamelin the only one that is not involved in teaching? Maybe he is asked to be the ‘policeman’ for the judging.
“You can’t vote for your own terrible student, you old coot!”
“And you also can’t vote for your friend’s terrible student, you second old coot!”
Toradze’s studio Is one of his main preoccupations, he’s placed his former students very aggessively. Glad to see the Julliard chair gone, Pressler will undoubtedly be too old by that point.
The Juilliard chair isn’t there, but a strong ally from the same institution is replacing her.
Is this Van Cliburn organizers’ own statement that there are no teachers in the jury, or just NL giving an inaccurate conclusion based on the list? Because every comment thus far is disagreeing.
It is my statement, and it is accurate. It is confirmed by the jury chair, and any objective measure.