In this piano competition, white candidates need not apply
NewsIntroducing the rules of the new Nina Simone Piano Competition in Cincinnati:
1.The inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition will be held from June 19 to 24, 2023.
2. Applications must be submitted via: getacceptd.com
3. This competition is for U.S. citizens.
4. This competition is for those who identify as Black or African-American.
Anyone can identify as anything.
This is absolutely ludicrous.
Get over it.
OK KAREN
I’m over 60 and identify as 25. I’m a good writer but I identify as a pianist. In fact, as a pianist I’m a very good writer.
I don’t understand how this is acceptable now days.
I agree completely – it should not be acceptable. However, discrimination against anyone who is not Black seems to be fine; as if to make up for past atrocities.
Cry me a river…..
In the same way that some competitions are only for a certain nationality, Tryon. No different 🙂
Using your logic, I’ll imagine a competition that is only open to white people. I don’t think think that would fly in our society today, and I doubt you’d report on it with a smiley face emoji. People’s hypocrisy about race is off the charts.
Only Ebony and no Ivory, then.
40 years on, Macca and Stevie will be upset
Although it is ironic in that her own teacher, Muriel Mazzanovich, would not be permitted to complete (due to race and evidently citizenship), it is perhaps appropriate given that it is widely thought — certainly Nina Simone thought so – that she was rejected by Curtis because of her race. (She had been previously accepted into, and attended, Juilliard but could not afford to continue there, lending weight to the argument that the Curtis decision was race-based).
Still at least part of the value (if there is value) in a competition prize is the quality of who you beat. The more interior value is the strength and willingness to enter, put up your talents against anyone’s, and see what happens.
A very fine pianist may well end being the winner of this new competition. How much that victory will mean to that small and insular group of insiders who are in a position to make good things happen — or not happen — for competition winners remains to be seen.
Curtis has always been harder to get into than Juilliard, precisely because Curtis is tuition-free.
And there was a Black student at Curtis when Simone applied, though whether that means race wasn’t an issue or there was a one-is-enough quota is unclear and can probably never be determined.
Exactly. Also, I used to work at Curtis and witnessed very overt anti-Black racism while there directed toward students and staff. I believe Nina.
So sad … What could have been a wonderful competition celebrating the great Nina Simone is now overshadowed by a racist policy.
Yep
Agree with you.
Don’t think great Nina Simone, even rejected in her personal career for racial reasons, would approve this competition only open to black pianists.
She was indeed an artist of great flair and musicality.
“who identify as”
Google: Rachel Dolezal
otherwise participants are being judged first by the colour/shade of their skin and not the content of their character.
Don’t forget BLM activist Shaun King who also claims he’s black.
Poor ukrainians , they cannot tae part !
When will we get at last a long-awaited competition open only to transgender candidates ?
In 2022: Today’s sarcasm is tomorrow’s reality.
It’s already here. Look up the Meg Quigley competition to be held in Tucson this January. One line from the site:
“The Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition is open to all cis and trans women, as well as non-binary people…”
Playing a piano with rainbow keys – how dare we give them a piano with black and white keys!
“Racism is the process by which systems and policies, actions and attitudes create inequitable opportunities and outcomes for people based on race.”
It is what it is.
So the entire history of classical music basically…this is just a small drop in the bucket to even the scales after a history of racism. But go on…
You have very skewed vision of the history of classical music but do go on…
Not much different from Chineke! That’s a registered charity and nobody has challenged whether it’s legal to discriminate on grounds of colour. But on the other hand, one is, presumably, allowed to have a Male Voice Choir, a Women’s Institute or a Federation of Black Police Officers.
We have heard all this rhetoric for many years now about how the white racist classical world has been forcing POC to play music of dead white men. Did anybody else notice the irony that when given the platform of playing the Proms, Chineke, chose to play Beethoven nine? Where are all of these brilliant up-and-coming black composers that could have written the next epic incredible work to offer the world? There’s a lot of fraud going on here.
We know, of course, that the readers here would be equally indignant if the contestants were overwhelmingly white and the jury entirely white……. Right?
If blacks had been specifically forbidden to compete, yes.
There are numerous scholarships in this country targeted to specific minorities to promote their education and career and encourage their presence in it. This is pretty much the same thing.
Surprise? No. Typical American lobotomised dross. Pathetic excuse for a country. As stupid as they’re fat.
Fascinating that this group claiming racism, exclusion, inequality, etc, is now having exclusive black Harvard graduation, black competitions, etc? History repeats itself alright. How embarrassing. I can’t wait for the day a white-as-snow Ukrainian identifies as a Ubangi enters these competitions, and the woke folk have springs and smoke firing out of their ears figuring out WTF to do now??????!!!!
Yes, get over it. To quote Bob Dylan, how does it feel? Karma can be a witch with a capital B, but also a learning experience.
Nor Asians. Musical apartheid.
So, accepting someone based on their skin color. Racism at it’s finest. Why is stuff like this permissible?
This is a misleading headline. “White candidates need not apply” implies that the competition discriminates specifically against white people, which is inaccurate. Latino and Asian people are also ineligible. The headline appears intentionally provocative, like it’s pushing a certain narrative.
Competitions reserved for a specific demographic are nothing new. We have competitions specifically for women, for youth under a certain age, for seniors *over* a certain age, for citizens of certain countries, etc. Often, these contests where not everyone under the sun is eligible are created because that demographic is under-represented in the professional music world, and they may need extra support to get their name out there. Another word for this is equity.
Nina Simone is a Black composer and this competition was likely designed to give a spotlight to Black classical musicians, because Black classical musicians are under-represented in the classical music world.