Leeds removes teachers from its piano competition jury

Hugh Jorgan says:

A good start, but the other thing he will need to do is improve the generally poor publicity and in particular the lamentably meagre on-line presence of the 2015 Leeds competition. Live streaming and recordings from all rounds and performers should be made available on the internet as was done in the 2015 Tchaikovsky and Chopin competitons.

But if the final contains the usual multiple performances of the hackneyed-to-death standard concertos like Rach 3, Tchaik 1, Prokof 3 or any Beethoven (with the usual excuse that the orchestra hasn’t time to rehearse any other works), I will not watch anyway.

Bruce says:

A NY Times article about the revamping of the competition (more than just getting teachers off the jury): https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/05/arts/music/leeds-piano-competition.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fmusic

Here’s the part I found most interesting/heartening:

“It used to be,” said Mr. Gatehouse, “that as soon as someone was eliminated they had to vacate their room and get the next flight home, their self-confidence in tatters. But now everyone will stay on to the end, and we’ll gainfully employ them — in pop-up recitals, educational projects at community centers, schools, anywhere we can get a piano. And they’ll all participate in master classes with the jurors.

“They’ll still go home disappointed, but it won’t be with that devastating sense of failure and rejection.”

I like the idea of acknowledging that because someone has not made it to the finals of a major international competition, that does not mean they are worthless as an artist. (On a certain level any artist already knows this, but it can be difficult to keep believing it when the world is constantly telling you otherwise.)