Spivakov kid wins Spivakov ‘Competition’

Spivakov kid wins Spivakov ‘Competition’

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norman lebrecht

May 15, 2016

The Swedish wunderkind Daniel Lozakovich, 15, has won first prize at the international Spivakov competition in Ufa.

Joint second were Agnes Langer, 23, from Hungary and Mai Suzu, 26, from Japan.

The jury was chaired by the competition’s founder Vladimir Spivakov, who spotted Daniel when he was a child and gave him a debut with the Moscow Soloists at the age of nine. As soon as Daniel’s name appeared among the entrants, it was clear that this was intended to be his coming-of-age. Spivakov had originally announced Mikhail Kopelman as jury chair, but decided to take the seat himself to make sure all went smoothly.

Daniel, who wins a pedigree 19th century violin, is unquestionably a considerable talent, He has a UK-based agent and is being lined up for a major-label deal. He did not need this lopsided competition.

Nor did the other contestants.

Daniel Lozakovitj

Comments

  • La Verita says:

    Integrity was never Spivakov’s middle name.

    • Tony says:

      What do you mean by this?
      Spivakov is a great guy and a very fine musician.
      No need (and no place) for jealous bitching like this.

      • MacroV says:

        Setting up his (admittedly well-regarded) protege to win his own competition doesn’t seem to reflect well on his integrity, or on that of the competition that bears his name. The rest I’ll leave to others who know better.

      • M2N2K says:

        A “great guy and a very fine musician”? Very few of those who know him well would agree with that. Sometimes tiny minorities can have a point, but this is not one of those cases.

  • Muslit says:

    “Spivakov had originally announced Mikhail Kopelman as jury chair, but decided to take the seat himself to make sure all went smoothly.”

    Should read:
    “Spivakov had originally announced Mikhail Lopelman as jury chair, but decided to take the seat himself to make sure Daniel won.”

    End of story.

  • Tony says:

    Sorry to read this one-sided, or nearly one-sided custard-pie throwing. It seems often the case with competitions. Rather like the Eurovision Song Contest such an occasion can turn into politics and settling old scores rather than anything much to do with the performance merits of those in the competition itself.

    Is the proposition before us that the winner was dreadful and that he/she won uniquely because of dirty tricks behind the scene?

    My personal experiences with Vladimir Spivakov have been devoid of any bad faith and I am saddened to read this bitterness and resentfulness. If it is based in fact and this winner won by favour despite being worthless, the response should be managed in more mature and professional fashion somewhere other than in NL’s blog.

    • M2N2K says:

      Don’t know much about this particular contest, but do know that apparently you have been uncommonly lucky in your “personal experiences”.

  • Milka says:

    It is always unsettling to read how children are used to further adults ambitions in
    searching for the next Yehudi Menuhin .
    Under guise of serving music as a higher calling countless lives are ruined.
    The kid already has an agent ??!!!!!! what lunacy……

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