Japanese wins questionable Carl Flesch contest
mainNagao Haruka, 29, from Japan has been declared winner of the much-diminished Carl Flesch Violin Competition in Mosonmagyaróvár, Hungary.
Second prize went jointly to Feng Eryu (23, China) and Louisa Staples, 18, from the UK.
The competition is supposedly open to artists based in Europe. Neither Haruka nor Eryu is resident in Europe.
The judges were Eszter Perényi (chair), Márta Ábrahám, Jurgis Dvarionas, Frantisek Novotny and Michael Vaiman.
UPDATE: We have now ascertained that six out of 11 semifinalists were students of jury members. The winner Nagao Haruka studied with the jury president Eszter Perenyi.
Just another stretch of competition credibility.
Maybe they quietly changed their mission? If not, I imagine a few upset Hungarian populists/right wingers.
Conditions of participation : The competition is open to all European violinists who were born on or after 1 January, 1988. Competitors can participate from all over the world if they can certify at least two years of musical studies in Europe.
from: http://fleschviolincompetition.com/en/place-and/
As far as I know Haruka Nagao is the concert master of Hungarian State Opera orchestra, if she hasn’t left.
I can attest that as a contestant who would like to remain anonymous, there were many highly polished and technically well put together violinists but very few musicians who had a voice or had an urge to make a personal statement. I didn’t hear everyone but certainly the ones who interested me and who fall into the second category were dropped in the first round. The same story continues where the first prize was awarded to the student of the head of the jury and second prize, a student of another jury member. Nothing new here but could see as a contestant that the some candidates behaved a certain way when the results were announced as if they knew what to expect. I feel it is a disrespect to those few musicians who showed up. All the best
Another bloody shambles.
These competitions are ruining music.