Piano competition is won by director’s teaching assistant
NewsThe 70th Wideman International Piano Competition, held annually in Van Cliburn’s town of Shreveport, Louisiana, has been won by Zheyu (Crystal) Jiang of China.
Ms Jiang studies with the competition’s new director Alon Goldstein and is, additionally, his teaching assistant. They also make videos together (see below).
Goldstein was named director earlier this year, succeeding Lester Senter Wilson.
Wideman joins the long list of competitions that needs a rigorous cleanup.
This is a minor competition which hasn’t yielded any international stars. The winner gets $3000 and a performance with the Shreveport Symphony. She isn’t getting recording contract from Deutsche Gramophone…
“ The winner gets $3000 and a performance with the Shreveport Symphony.”
And the students not associated with the director get …
She may have deserved to win but that is surely tarnished now.
Meaning what exactly? That corruption is ok as long as it is a minor one? I don’t understand.
well said.
I have felt for years that winning competitions is no proof that you are a true musician. It just proves that you have nerves of steel, excellent technique, and the required repertoire. Sviatoslav Richter did not win any competitions and he made slips in recitals and recordings. But he was a true musician, a servant of the art, not the master.
The Wideman was an extremely tough competition in its day that attracted scores of top players playing every standard concerto (plus Corigliano, Barber, Bartok 2, etc.) and rigorous judges. Ioudenitch, Soyeon Lee, and others won it over the years before entering Cliburn, Young Concert Artists, etc. It’s sad, but not surprising, that the new AD is using it to boost his own status as a “teacher.”
I have my own thoughts about Alan G.
Agreed – a competition so minor that it flies comfortably under the radar.
Does that make the fraud less serious? I guess the competitor placed second would have loved to play with orchestra and get $3000… Disgusting!
Maybe she’s good, and there were no other candidates.
Can happen.
That is quite an assumption
No other talents around????
I believe that Peter was being sarcastic/ironic.
I’m guessing it’s Mr. Goldstein who won some sort of prize, not her.
Dont these judges understand anything about conflict of interest and the need to recuse oneself in such a situation????
Presumably, in line with International competition regulations he wasn’t allowed to vote for his student. Or was he?
from their web-site: ‘Former first place winners of the Wideman Competition and students of acting judges of this year’s Competition are ineligible.’ So Mr Goldstein wasn’t a jury member?
all a bit shady.
Heard Goldstien in Bucharest several years ago in a very heavy-handed Mozart concerto, hope his assistant has a greater sense of touch and musicality.
What I don’t understand is how the people involved in these kind of shenanigans have an absolutely brazen lack of shame or embarrassment. Their lives continue as if nothing happened.
Arie Vardi trained him well…
Oh, the video is hilarious: “tempo” is transcribed as “temple”, “lento” is “lentil” and (poor Fryderick) Chopin becomes “shopping”. What on Earth is all this about?
Probably done by voice recognition rather than a human with subject matter experience.
It’s important to have a chopin liszt, otherwise u may forget to buy something 😉
The artistic director is not a member of the jury. Your “article” implies that the winner was chosen due to her relationship with the AD. Unless you have anything to back up this claim, this is an insult to the winner and to the jury.
I have judged many competitions, often knowing that students of the organizers were participating. It never bothered me nor has it ever influenced me.
So now you are artificially putting an asterix next to this win, diminishing the accomplishment of this young pianist, and tarnishing what otherwise is probably one of the best days of her career.
So many competitions are brazenly rigged – has anyone noticed that the Miss Universe contest is always won by someone from Earth?
Zhenyu (Crystal) Jiang won the first prize in numerous competitions, including the concerto competitions at both Oberlin and UMKC (where she performed Prokofiev 3rd Piano Concerto and Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto with critical acclaim), the Arthur Dann Piano Competition, Three Arts Club competition, and the National Keyboard Competition in Tianjin, China. She is also the winner of the top Oberlin Alumni Award, Agnes Fowler grant, UMKC GAF Award (twice), Mu Pho Epsilon Grants, KCMC Award, and she was elected to membership in the National Music Honor Society.
The dress and the pose in the picture suggest some “extra-musical” reasons for the award. This may be the photographer’s fault, or a mis-judgment on her part, but it is unfortunate that competitions are not always fair or even, or transparent about relationships.
She is quite beautiful, and her mentor is “youngish.” It looks bad, even if it isn’t. That does her, as a young person, a disservice.
I think the fact that you’re making these assumptions says more about your biases than any that were involved in this situation…