Student wins video poll to open state orchestra’s season
NewsThe Stuttgart State Orchestra and its general music director Cornelius Meister decided to offer their season’s first solo spot – the Dvorak violin concerto – to the best young applicant on video.
More than 50 submissions were received and judged.
The winner is a Georgian student Veriko Tchumburidze, 25, presently studing at the Munich Hochschule.
She has just popped out for her first photo session (below).
Why don’t more orchestras do this?
If I was director of an orchestra, I would give at least two conducting and soloist slots a season to interesting artists who had not appeared with the orchestra before – could be either those starting careers or experienced artists who for whatever reason had not been heard locally. It’s so easy for programmers to get into a rut with artists and repertoire, and this needs to be countered if / when possible.
Since when is a conductor an “interesting artist”?
Umm…one of the reasons to invite people back regularly is that you know the person invited is professional in their behaviour and is reliable; and that the audience, knowing who they are, are likely to buy tickets. Both attributes are very important when putting on a concert.
In the early days of the Berlin Philharmonic, Joseph Joachim’s most talented students frequently made their debuts with the orchestra — many of them women. Many of his students also performed with the Gewandhaus Orchestra.
With classical music teetering on the artistic brink, these types of stunts are going to become more common…until someone points out that a professional artist should be the recipient of these opportunities, not a student. JMHO
She’s basically a competition winner. It’s not uncommon for an orchestral debut to be the prize, or part of the prize, for winning a competition.