The next piano competition is Russia/China vs Japan/Korea
NewsSemi-finalists for the Concours Genève:
– Jae Sung Bae (22 years old, Korea)
– Sergey Belyavsky (28 years old, Russia)
– Kevin Chen (17 years old, Canada)
– Kaoruko Igarashi (27 years old, Japan)
– Miyu Shindo (19 years old, Japan)
– Zijian Wei (23 years old, China)
– Yonggi Woo (27 years old, Korea)
– Adria Ye (24 years old, US)
– Vsevolod Zavidov (16 years old, Russia)
Given the history, I imagine some Korean musicians would prefer not to be counted as a “bloc” with Japanese musicians…! Regardless, I wish all of the participants the very best in the upcoming rounds and look forward to watching their performances.
Kevin Chen is remarkable. He is also Canadian. There is a US competitor as well, so the headline is just wrong.
Music unites. The nationality or race doesn’t really matter … Congrats to all the finalists!
What is the point in framing the headline in a political context? These are young people who want to succeed and get paid for making music, irrespective of where they come from.
Political stances of various national governments have little bearing on classical musicians nor indeed the classical music community as a whole. The community rises above the base tribal skirmishes of those who seek conflict. It’s the same with international science and scientists.