Another violin competition is rigged

Linus Roth says:

There´s a simple rule that would be most appropriate for any music competition to (re)-gain credibility, and it is beyond my comprehension that not every competition follows it:

“Students and former students of jurors and the artistic director are excluded from competing.”

Just as we did at the Int. Leopold Mozart Violin Comeptition:
https://slippedisc.com/2017/09/violin-competition-gets-a-major-clean-up/

It´s not enough that a juror isn´t allowed to vote for his own student. Jury members knowing that a candidate is the pupil of a colleague/friend sitting right next to him/her might not be objective. Especially if you met the night before at the dinner table and had a little chat about certain things.

Linus Roth
International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart, Augsburg – Artistic Director
http://www.leopold-mozart-competition.de/en/press/content/16362

Juliette says:

Shameful. But to be expected from this part of the world.

S. Parke says:

Linus Roth is absolutely correct, and I for one heartily applaud the changes he has introduced. It is about time, and hopefully the example he sets will start to make a difference.

Also, while I understand the disdain that many of you have for competitions in general, I think it’s fair to point out that a win or two at a major competition is somewhat necessary in today’s age to build a career. It is a shame that it is that way, but it is. The world unfortunately views “wins” as evidence of talent, and gone are the days when a well reviewed recital launched your career. For that reason, I think it’s unfair to tell the students not to compete. They really have no choice if they hope for a career someday. Because of this, the changes such as those Linus Roth is making are quite necessary, and may need to go even further. Many of the jurors who sit on juries regularly are very good friends and vote together to eliminate the good players. You can literally track them through the competitions with which they have been involved, and the best players are always passed over for students of the jurors. One such pairing is Qian Zhou and Takashi Shimizu. Also, Qian Zhou hosted a Singapore Festival recently, and I am guessing that at least a few of the finalists attended the Festival. I think this is very standard practice. You pay me to attend my Festival, and I will favor you at the next competition. As Mr. Roth points out correctly, the only solution is to eliminate the students of the jurors. But perhaps this does not even eliminate all of the issues because some of these connections (like attending a juror’s Festival, secret alliances between jurors, etc) are still present and much more difficult to spot. Maybe jurors should not be teachers at all, or in any position that benefits monetarily from students. Also, if I were selecting a jury, I would specifically eliminate anyone who regularly sits on a jury. Some of these jurors bounce from competition to competition, and it is very suspect in my opinion.

By the way, when I saw this list of jurors, I laughed. It’s literally a who’s who of crooked jurors – Qian Zhou, Takashi Shimizu, Boris Kuschner. I could have told you who would be in the finals before the competition started. It is a shame that the actions of a few are enough to taint the entire competition as well as the reputation of jurors who are fair (I am sure many of the jurors at the SIVC are fair, but it only takes a couple of crooked jurors working together to upset the results completely). Such a shame.

Thierry says:

Whoa what a surprise…

ANNOUNCEMENT: Grand Finalists

Chisa Kitagawa, Japan – a student of juror Takashi Shimizu
Sergei Dogadin, Russia – a student of juror Boris Kuschnir
Oleksandr Korniev, Ukraine – a teaching assistant at YST Conservatory in Singapore and past student of Qian Zhou, chair of jury