A voice in defence of Pinchas Zukerman
NewsA colleague tries to explain away offensive comments about Asian students by the eminent violinist:
Dear Sir,
I am a professional violinist and I attended Mr Zuckerman’s online class last Friday. Mr Zuckerman first complimented the two young Violinists on their performance, before he said anything else. He asked questions of both girls such as: “who’s playing first?” & “Who decides who plays which part?” Those are not offensive remarks. When speaking to them about different things, he “assumed” they were Korean. For this assumption, I fault the person who facilitated the master class and told him which students he would be working with. That person should have informed him of their nationality-not because that would have any affect on his teaching, but then he would not have madeĀ any assumptionsĀ and could have couched his instruction in a different manner.
I don’t think Juilliard should have pulled his entire video and I’m going to be writing to them as well. They should have just pulled that segment instead of the whole thing. The other young artists he worked with were very good and for the most part, he did not say anything that was insensitive or out of place to them.
Mr Zuckerman is a very fine professional violinist and soloist. All of us who studied with ANY of the pedagogues at Juilliard or at any other conservatory have experienced a Master Teacher (& often more than one) who has an unusual way of expressing their teaching ideas. One of my experiences starred Mr Kenneth Goldsmith who recently was at Rice. That does not make them bad people and Mr Zuckerman certainly is not a bad person at all. Unfortunately, these two young ladies will have been educated by now, by those of the “woke” or “politically correct” crowd. They are NOT correct either nor do they have any idea of what is correct or common in our world.
The truth is that the professional musician world is not a place where musical sensitivity based on “wokeness” will ever be tolerated. We are highly trained and very proficient followers of our teachers and our conservatory training as well as our conductors and section leaders. Most of us do not let remarks of conductors or others get under our skin. It’s important to have developed a very good sense of yourself and your abilities and that you use that to promote healthy self-esteem. If you do not do this, you will be crippled by every suspected slight that comes your way. And if you are a musician, then you know how absolutely true this is and how undermining it can be if you do not have a good self-esteem.
I do not think we should be climbing on the bandwagon to be condemning of Mr Zuckerman or anyone else. Is he perfect? No. Does he have important musical teaching to impart? Yes. In fairness to him and everyone else who might be teaching during a Symposium that is online and not in person, there needs to be clear information on exactly whom they will be working with. Their ages, their experience, their circumstances of being featured as a performer, & the scope of the instructor’s responsibility and requirements for the instruction to be useful. That did not happen for Mr Zuckerman and I’m sorry that he was not better informed. That blame rests on Juilliard.
Sincerely,
LF
photo: Toronto Star
The purpose of a master class is to help the players’ performance. Abuse of any kind does not do so. It represents a tradition that deserves to be binned permanently.
Why is Slippedisc giving an anonymous, self-declared “professional” musician, a special soapbox for his/her utterly inane comments?
(If he is a “pro” as he says he is, he is embarrassing his profession.)
That he insists on anonymity, and that Slippedisc provides it for him in this special post, demonstrate that they both know how dumb his comments are.
I’m sorry, this is a load of nonsense. The fact that he made some non-offensive comments (I assume he said “hello” too) does not erase the fact that he was, in fact, offensive. As for ‘the fault lies with Juilliard’…what? Zuckerman should not have “assumed” anything, and his comments would not have been acceptable even if he’d got the nationality right.
This is lame, and it is made even sadder by the feeble attempt to pin it all on the “‘woke’ or ‘politically correct’ crowd.” Although, granted, when many claim the right to be ‘politically incorrect’, this is what they demand: the right to be offensive and insulting without consequences. In that sense, this letter is par for the course.
I quite agree. I was especially put off by the writer’s suggestion that, since musicians must often put up with offensive “remarks of conductors or others”, it’s on the musicians to grow a thick skin rather than on others to be courteous and treat people with respect.
BOTH are necessary.
According to this “defence” it would be okay if I made blatantly antisemitic comments – and then it turned out that the person I insulted isn’t Jewish at all. Nope, it doesn’t work that way. Crude insults are crude insults, even if they miss their target by a mile.
Emil. All due respect, but compared to usual violin profs in Moscow, Paris, Koln, Brussels etc…in the past, the Zuckerman remarks are tame! Tough profs who didn’t let anything slip, hence the standards. Woke and taking offense has no place in the pursuit of excellence. Go and sit in a London session – play the notes, get out.
We love to grade on a scale, don’t we.
It’s the warp speed rush to FIND offense which is itself offensive. ‘Pinky today’, somebody else tomorrow. There’ll never be a shortage of US princesses and emperors feeling offended.
The Korean music students in question will go on to productive artistic lives, no matter who says what to them. And when they get the formal criticism after a performance who is going to assuage their hurt feelings?
Proves my point.
The students were Japanese, not Korean.
āThat person should have informed him of their nationality-not because that would have any affect on his teaching, but then he would not have made any assumptions and could have couched his instruction in a different manner.ā
As if it was necessary to assume the nationalities of oneās students or to ever make a mention of them! This is stupid. Perhaps Juilliard should have found out the sexual orientation of the players as well, so that he could have made the āproper offensive remarksā about that too?
Agreed. The defense is poor if the only excuse is āhe didnāt know their actual race, so not his fault.ā
However, letās all just take a breath: rude and uncomfortable comments do not equal vile and despicable hate speechā¦or is there just no difference these days?
Many Asian American students are feeling ‘offended’ because they’re the subject of quotas now in some universities. Who cares about their ‘feelings’?
Stop with the epic hypocrisy.
How is it just “feelings” as you say if their admissions are impacted by unofficial quotas being levied against them?
That brings tangible, real impact, not just someone’s emotions or feelings.
Just be more concise for the sake of brevity, and say you don’t care about what happens to Asian Americans as long as it doesn’t impact you or your loved ones.
This is completely ridiculous. Zukerman assumed the students were Korean, and then when told they were Japanese instead, proceeded to continue using the same stereotype!
I’m as woke-skeptical as anyone out there in the classical music world, but Zukerman’s comments were a reflection of stereotypes about Asian musicians that are sadly extremely common in our field, as the person writing this surely knows. “Robotic.” “Machines.” “All they can do is play the notes.” “You can’t tell the difference between any of them.” These are absurd stereotypes that Zukerman was taking part in by confusing the student’s nationality, and then without missing a beat, indicting another East Asian culture as well as not being able to “sing.” He also, as many have pointed out, ignored the boatloads of spectacular Korean and Japanese singers out there.
The creep of illiberalism and language policing is real, don’t get me wrong, but in this case Zukerman wholly deserved the criticism he has received for these ignorant comments.
Both young musicians are native New Yorkers and American!
Stereotypes are at the ideological heart of identity politics!! It’s therefore very funny and ironic to hear complaints about stereotyping from “Pinky”. OK for some, not for others. Epic hypocrisy. If “Pinky” was disadvantaged or poor it would be an entirely different matter. But he has power and the Left despises that.
“…But he has power and the Left despises that.”
Utter baloney!
He was a boor. And he was getting paid to be such?
Both musicians are American born, of part Japanese descent! By Mr Zukerman’s logic, his being a Jew would entirely colour, define and inform how he plays, what he is inspired by, how his musicianship is shaped. Also, his music would be quite similar to Isaac Stern’s – in fact, quite indistinguishable, and riddled with the same problems! We know this not to be the case, which is why any assertion otherwise is absolutely ludicrous, and frankly, these women need not accept this kind of disrespect. Unless one has been on the receiving end of these unfortunate tropes, it will be difficult to sympathise with how prevalent, tiresome and dehumanising they are. But I think Mr Zukerman can relate, given the mistreatment Jewish musicians have received.
Sadly, I think it was highly inappropriate and insensitive for the maestro to racially & culturally stereotype the two students the way he did. As the old saying goes, āDonāt judge a book by its coverā, which is exactly what the maestro did with those two girls. We should be seen and judged by who we are as individualsā¦not by how we may appear racially or ethnically.
LF’s letter to Slipped Disc cannot whitewash Zuckerman’s out of place comments.
When is comes to conductors, musicians adhere to the phrase “The more you speak, the less you do”. This is a good barometer for judging an orchestral leader’s talent.
Pinky should have thought twice before allowing his creative blunder to “sing” out of his mouth, but then maybe he couldn’t help it since it’s probably part of his DNA.
Not much of a “defence” of PZ when the writer can’t even spell the man’s name. Plus only gives his own initials on signing off
A “Master (dread name, evoking slavery) Class” must always be a “safe space,” lest sensitive talents be harmed and “triggered” by even supposedly “constructive” criticism.
I agree with your comment, but, really and truly, I don’t think “master” in this context evokes slavery. Grasping at straws. Context matters.
Boxwell, thinkbad
Nice try at playing the culture warrior, David, but your sarcastic wokeness tropes are ‘straw men’, no more appropriate to this case than Zukerman’s Korean stereotypes.
In case you’ve never attended one: there’s no such thing as a ‘safe space’ in a master class – you know, ‘master’ as in ‘mastery’ – and no one expects there to be. Constructive criticism is exactly what students are coming for, and everyone at Juilliard has already received plenty along the way.
Zukerman’s problem here wasn’t constructive musical criticisms – it was poor listening skills and ignorance. He wasn’t listening when these young singers indicated they were Japanese-American, and he then bloviated on about Koreans not being singers – a claim not only false but frankly idiotic. No one was ‘triggered’, but many recognized that Zukerman’s remark was bullshit – an absurd stereotype deserving rebuke in any academic or musical setting. It certainly had no place in a master class at Juilliard, an institution whose student body is largely Asian and Asian-American.
By the way, Zukerman has already acknowledged that his comments were misguided. Like his students, he recognizes that he wouldn’t be where he is today – a very fine musician – without some of the constructive criticism he’s received along the way. It helps one to mature as an artist and a human being, David, and far more than sarcastic snark.
I would have more interest in the views of the “professional violinist” if he had once spelled Zukerman’s name correctly. The fact that he does not know the difference between “affect” and “effect” is less relevant to his “professional” work, though to me it is as egregious as hitting a totally false note.
I see what you are saying, however, English may not be his native language.
It’s usually the people who speak English as a first language who make such mistakes…
(independent of the idiocy of the argument itself!)
Thatās no excuse for not being able to type āāZukermanā although this is a very common problem.
First, LF has some sexism he needs to work on. He calls the violinists “girls”; if they were men I doubt he would have referred to them as “boys.”
This is quite possibly the most ludicrous statement I’ve read on the internet this week:
“That person should have informed him of their nationality-not because that would have any affect on his teaching, but then he would not have made any assumptions and could have couched his instruction in a different manner.”
So basically, Zuckerman is so prone to making comments about people’s perceived nationality based on their appearance even though it has nothing to do with teaching, that Juilliard needed to brief him ahead of time so he wouldn’t make it an ass of himself.
Ask yourself why is it so hard for Zuckerman to just ask people where they are from instead of assuming based on their appearance āĀ and then listening to people when they try to tell him?
They are teenaged girls, not college students. Still, perhaps “young women” is better. I’m guilty of the “girls” bit because of the actual ages.
Why does it even matter where they are “from”? He was racist, prejudiced and gave shitty comments. Recommending sliding around as a means of expression in Spohr? Zukerman is collecting fees based on accomplishments from long ago. Lazy.
The video clearly showed the Violinists as very young musicians. In fact, one of them was reported to be 12. In most cultures they would be regarded as young girls. That is not sexist nor is it incorrect.
The video clearly showed the Violinists as very young and one of them was reported as being 12 years old. In most cultures they would be considered to be young girls. That is not being sexist nor is it incorrect.
Sorry LF,
There is no excuse for the offensiveness or rudeness or abuse that all too often accompanies music instruction.
My kids have also experienced KG – ya know what? Found a better teacher at a better music school. The late ZZ at MAW had students running from the studio. Some held on including my kid, but I question whether the instruction provided was worth the screaming and lack of basic respect shown to the student. OC at Meadowmount threw a large music score at an “offending” player. Really? I’m sure that made all the difference.
Notice that KG and ZZ are deceased, OC is banned and discredited. Pinky should retire. I pray that the next generation doesn’t have to endure what previous generations have encountered.
Orchestra Unions arose in large part due to overbearing conductors. Perhaps it’s time to rewrite the rules for students as well.
I’m not sure why I have chosen to use initials rather than full names for the above teachers. I’m not convinced their behavior deserves anything less than a full call-out, but those in the field will recognize them.
By the way, “mine” is grown and a successful young(er) professional now. High, demanding expectations from master teachers minus high-handedness shown by people like Pinky did the trick.
What’s with all the initials?? Is this an AA meeting?
I am surprised to see insinuations of similar behavior by Kenneth Goldsmith (not going to bother with anonymization since he was named in full in LF’s letters). I had plenty of issues with him as a teacher (I studied with him later in his life, long after he really should have retired) but he always treated people with dignity and respect in my experience.
I know something about Kenneth Goldsmith that would put him in jail (if he werenāt already deceased). I have many friends who studied with him and some absolutely loved him, others found him problematic, and one friend had something happen to them that is unconscionable and unforgivable.
There are far worse than him too. He is professional compared to a few I won’t name who haven’t the fame either him or Mr. Zukerman have.
Who are all these people?
I recognized Zvi Zeitlin, because I went to Eastman and I knew he taught at Music Academy of the West. I knew several of his students, but I never heard he was mean. He did tell one student “your bow is like underwear in the summertime – always creeping up in the middle.” The famously mean teacher was SR.
“KG” is apparently Kenneth Goldsmith who is mentioned in the article.
No idea who “OC” is.
Probably Owen Carman.
The score throwing incident at Meadowmount is the clue.
Why is everybody just taking it for granted that “LF” is a man?
I find this sexism deeply disturbing.
Because NL posted a picture of him with a male student.
With all the problems in the world, and you find this deeply disturbing?
“soy sauce”? Zukerman needs to take a break from teaching and get some training himself. I’m certain this is not the first time he’s made such remarks.
If that was as far as it went, Iād say that the reference to a condiment frequently used by a group is no big deal. He did also mention vinegar. Iām Italian, we use vinegar in the same fashion, and if someone suggested that my playing needed some vinegar (or soy sauce, which I also use as appropriate despite my apparent lack of an east Asian ancestry), I would get the point without any offense, though my smart-ass streak would probably ask whether the āfoodā needed the rich unctuous character of an aceto balsamico tradizionale, a bright wine vinegar, a Chinese black vinegar, etc.
I have to say Iām a bit surprised anyone hasnāt noticed that the guy is a bit opinionated, and hardly shy about sharing those opinions. Should be about as surprising as discovering that Trump thinks the election was rigged! Pay attention to what he says about violin-playing, ignore any nonsense. Why go or play if you donāt think he has anything worth hearing? And if it is most important to have a polite, respectful master class, hire a polite, respectful artist to teach it.
Sure, I don’t think those ladies would return to any future classes hosted by Zukerman.
But that’s not related to a fact that its at least distasteful if not outright disgraceful to demean someone based on their appearance. The ladies in question are Japanese American and would likely understand “with vinegar” as much as the person beside them.
Not to mention the incredibly unfounded and bigoted remarks that Japanese or Korean people cannot sing, that it’s not “in their DNA.”
WTF is that?
I wonder whether maestro PZ has ever been on the receiving end of a crude, insensitive, stereotypical remarkā¦from/by someone who he originally looked up to, like a teacher, mentor, or someone else in a position of āauthorityā? If so, he probably felt pretty bad about it! His total lack of empathy is appalling!
He has empathy but what he did was unforgivable. A few people who haven’t the fame that Zukerman had and have are far far worse and those few are worse than Zukerman.
To NL: You have referred to “LF” as a colleague of Zukerman. Same profession, but unless he/she has performed with him, that is a stretch. I find publishing their letter anonymously highly questionable and borderline unethical.
To “LF”: You say Zukerman (whose name you misspelled) should have been informed of the students’ nationality. Why? They are American. You mention an apparently bad experience with Ken Goldsmith without citing specifics. Since my colleague is not here to defend himself, I will say that any “unusual” part of that interaction was probably on your end. Ken’s style of teaching was miles apart from Zukerman’s. Don’t lump them together.
To “anon”: So, “yours” found a better teacher than Ken at a better school? I doubt it. You anonymously trash him and Zvi Zeitlin. Both are gone. Do you also spray unsigned graffiti on buildings? Sorry, but you are offensive and rude.
This is not about wokeness which I detest. It is about a man who has not an iota of modesty and humility – who has been an insensitive bully his entire adult life.
Oh my dear LF… There was a program book with the bios of all of the young artists, and the recordings of their performances were available in advance. But why should the organizers have to take special measures to inform a guest teacher of the ancestral heritage of any of the students? So that he can use the racist tropes (in this case, “Asians don’t play expressively” and they “don’t sing in Korea”) that map with the right country?
The brouhaha is not a “woke” exercise of the “left.” It’s because that was a horrible way to treat children, even fabulously gifted and privileged children. The girls haven’t been “taught” about “wokeness,” they were clearly exasperated by the way they were being treated; it’s shocking to me that you didn’t see that. I was really proud of them for playing magnificently through it.
Was there something of value? Sure, he asked them to use even more vibrato and to slide on the shifts. They did it and they sounded even better. [NOTE: they were already using a good bit of vibrato and they had no trouble adjusting to the request, which speaks to their capabilities].
The symposium is about excellence in teaching, and hopefully, everyone has now learned that advising students to use more vibrato and slide on shifts (when stylistically appropriate) is better language than using racist tropes.
…”But why should the organizers have to take special measures to inform a guest teacher of the ancestral heritage of any of the students?”…
Because this tells the teacher a lot about the general culture of the performers and gives one of many keys to the whole master class approach!!
couldnāt we at least pick a better violinist in the picture above? he does not play very well. (Not PZ)
Who is the violinist in the picture? Is that Timothy Chooi?
Timothy Chooi pictured in the photo is an excellent violinist. There is no need to put down anyone who works hard and brings happiness to many people. This article has nothing to do with Timothy and quite frankly, everyone should be better and not try to tear someone down anonymously every chance they get.
Bravo!
I was waiting for revealing details from a personal perspective. It turns out this anonymous person provides even less details than what has been publicly known. Is calling others “woke” and “political correct” the best thing he or she can do? Is she or he even there?
I wonder what Zukerman meant by “sing”? and stating that Asians don’t.
wow…who actually wrote this letter?
Nonsense. Zuckerman behaved like an ass.
LF – you are truly an idiot and part of the very culture that we should seek to dismantle.
Zukerman needs to be briefed on nationality and can’t take ownership of his own stereotypical assumptions? Get real
So saying racist or culturally insensitive stereotypes – you are now reducing down to ‘unusual’ teaching ideas’? or ‘suspected slights’? GFY
You use “Our world” a lot and what is correct and common. I’ve known “your world” for 35+ years and what needs to happen is acceptance there is a problem, steps to remediate/educate and to stop it happening again.
We need to live in a world that doesn’t require ‘healthy self esteem’ to endure this kind of racist, cultural white washing trash. Particularly from the likes of you. Thanks.
35+ years, ok. If so, then you know what was said is what really happens all the time in the professional Orchestral world. Every single professional musician I know has a very good self identity and because they do, they’re able to weather the sometimes withering criticism that comes at them from the podium, their section leaders or their stand partner. Saying that you think we ought to get rid of people like LF because they comment on something you disagree with, doesn’t ring true with how things sometimes are. In reality, everyone would love to have great directors or teachers to work with and sometimes you do get to work with people like that. However, about 80% of the time it’s the other way around and you’d better have a thick skin and a very good appreciation of yourself and your performance abilities… And you’d better be well prepared musically speaking.
I teach at Juilliard, and this whole thing makes me cringe. Yes, itās possible to be a great famous musician, and pig racist. At the same time! I used to wince at these stereotypes when I was in music school decades ago, but you couldnāt call people out for it. Glad to see the change.
Change your world dear! Please leave our world alone!
We love it the way it was! I was at Juilliard 40 years ago and it was a decent place!! Now it is a rathole.
Mr Lebrecht (LF?):
Being a world class violinist is no excuse to be disgustingly insensitive to students. Mr Zuckerman repeatedly insulted the students, as well as a whole (Asian?) culture. A good teacher can teach how to play the violin a certain way without using derogatory descriptives of a big segment of humanity. He wants them to have fun? He should show them HOW to manipulate their instruments to produce the effect he espouses. Could he have shown what is “boxy” as opposed to a freer, singing interpretation?
Could he have realized that the students may still be innocent to the ways of the world, that certain experiences are yet to come? Does every Italian get born singing an opera? How about Jews? And Germans? Et cetera, et cetera!
FYI, Asian mothers (and I have heard fathers too) sing to their babies, and sing with them as they grow up.
I have encountered master teachers who treated students deferentially, whether the students were still in elementary school or in grad school. They practice what is known as Respect. Good teachers improve on what they learned from their own teachers. No need to be “woke” – how I hate that word. Common decency is all that it takes.
Really–you think this is appropriate? Mr. Zuckerman knows this very well. He is Jew, a group who have endured the slings and arrows of prejudice forever. Just assuming the two young women who played in his masterclass were Korean is insulting. “Korean’s don’t sing”? Is Mr. Zuckerman familiar with Hei-Kyung Hong, a South Korean soprano who made her Met debut in 1984 and has sung nearly 350 performances in the house during her more than 35-year career? How about Sumi Jo, the stunning South Korean soprano who has maintained an opera and concert career singing all over the world for decades now. She has made many recordings. Kwanchul Youn and Samuel Youn are both basses from South Korea. Both are European based, but have appeared at the Bayreuth festival. Kwanchul Youn has made recordings, and called the Berlin State Opera his artistic home for decades. He has sung at the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and many other international venues. Plus there is the South Korean tenor Yonghoon Lee, who sings dramatic tenor roles at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Covent Garden, the Vienna State Opera, the Chicago Lyric Opera, the San Francisco Opera and elsewhere. So saying Koreans don’t sing is absurd and tone deaf. Mr. Zuckerman is entitled to criticize young artists for a lack of expressivity in their playing. Most of these young artists are exactly that–young. You don’t have to resort to stereotyping an artist’s origins to make a point. And it’s shocking that a man as experienced, erudite and talented as Zuckerman is, does himself no favors by insulting his students. And then blaming Juilliard for not telling Mr. Zuckerman where these young women came from is completely insane. Are you saying in order to avoid not sticking his foot in his mouth, the school should have given him flash cards about the origins of his students. Zuckerman screwed up even worse when after he was corrected, saying Japanese can’t sing either. Sorry. Zuckerman’s behavior here is entirely indefensible. Shame on you for thinking otherwise.
BRAVO!!! A great letter!!! Finally, a normal reaction.
The fact that the anonymous letter is published here places the editor at the same level as the anonymous writer and Pinko.
Zukerman has always been a huge influence on my development and tastes as a musician, but this is beyond insensitive, it is downright racist and extremely disappointing, especially in this particularly vitriolic anti-Asian environment. I donāt think we should all out Ā« cancel Ā» Zukerman, but there are behaviors, especially patterns of behaviors, as seems to be the case here, that are outdated and questionable, at best, and downright inacceptable at worst, that we should call out and challenge.
His remarks are turducken of Ā« cultural insensitivity Ā»:
1. Assuming that the sisters were playing Ā« mechanically Ā» BECAUSE he perceived them as Asian
2. Assuming that they were Korean
3. When they told him they were of Japanese descent, he equated both cultures
4. Assuming that a group, or a society, or a country, as a whole behave or donāt behave in a specific way is inherently racist.
5. Belittling a culture because he assumes they donāt sing
6. Belittling a culture because they sing, but their aesthetics donāt match his presumably western/classical standards
7. Using his clout, his charisma, and his authoritativeness to posture himself in a domineering, condescending, if not colonialist and predatory way.
A big fuck you to anyone who ‘defences’ pinchas’ idiocy.
So easy for you to say when you are not of the offended group. Are you Asian? If not, you have absolutely no credibility in telling them what is and what is not offensive.
Dear Anonymous writer, have you ever been stopped by the police for no reason, but for the color of your skin? Have you been followed by security in a shopping mall because of your skin color? Have you ever had people cross the street so they can avoid walking toward you?
“Itās not in their DNA” is not “cultural insensitiveness”, it is plain and shameless racism.
Wow, really? How can someone write this piece of nonsense and think it is rational? I cannot help but question the writer’s sense of logic and morality as well as that of whoever allows it to be posted/published here. This article insults the intellect of every human being who happens to read it.
What Zuckerman said is not culturally insensitive but simply racist. His remarks offend not just Asian people but also everyone who is not a racist. It doesn’t matter if he knew about the students’ racial/ethnic background or not.
He is out of touch at best. And why should he be told they are Chinese or Korean. He should be able to critique them blindly with his back turned… He would not have shared the award w Ms. Choi way back when had he been of different background š
For a start, please just spell his name correctly.