Russian lies: ‘Carnegie Hall boss to chair Tchaikovsky Competition jury’
NewsIn an English memo to western journalists, Moscow has announced the following jury chairs in the 65th anniversary Tchaikovsky Competition, starting this week:
Piano – Denis Matsuev
Violin – Martin Engstroem
Cello – Clive Gillinson
Voice – Sarah Billinghurst Solomon
Woodwinds – Denis Bouriakov
Brass – Ian Bousefield
Gillinson is president of Carnegie Hall. Engstroem runs the Verbier Festival. Both are friends of Valery Gergiev, the competition’s co-chair.
UPDATE: Gillinson strongly denies ever having agreed to serve, as does Sarah Billinghurst Solomon. The list which was issued yesterday (see link), seems identical to that of four years ago.
We apologise for having been miseld by official-looking Russian propaganda.
LATEST: Tchaikovsky Competition, on eve of opening, has no jury
Pictured: Gillinson (r) with Gergiev
Norman, the list of contestants has also been announced. From the UK, there is George Harliono, a Classic FM Rising Star and a winner of a Brit award.
He is also a student of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. He is also signed to LocksBridge Management.
Don’t really understand why a UK competitor would want to enter. If they won or took a major prize, the controversy surrounding it would render it worthless for career progression.
He entered the competition in 2019, and following technical errors in round 1, was eliminated. He’s having another go.
He has since graduated from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, as his biography states
Ambition and arrogance make up for a very dangerous cocktail. Is the (very small) chance of winning this particular competition worth becoming a pariah in the world of classical music? Some might be forgiving, but for a growing majority of musicians, promoters etc. the participation in a competition sanctioned by the Russian government equals validating their invader behavior. Mr. Harliono has probably made the biggest mistake of his career by signing up for thid charade…
And what are you thoughts, in that case, on participation of GB and US athletes in 1936 Olympics in Nazi Berlin? With 8 and 24 medals won….
The current Tchaikovsky competition is happening more than a year following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Berlin Olympics happened three years before Hitler’s invasion of Poland.
Hello, View from America, The importance of the US participation in the 1936 Berlin Olympics is that Jesse Owens, a black athlete, won four Olympic medals, discrediting Hitler’s master race theory. He proved that individual excellence is more important than race or nationality.
This opportunity would have been lost if the US had boycotted the Berlin Olympics. Participation was approved by a narrow vote.
Your comment shows that actually you know very little about George Harliono, yet you are happy to post a rather cynical and possibly inflammatory message about him in order to create a reaction. George Harliono has never been supported by the classical music industry in the UK. In fact it is a sad reflection on the constricted, constipated state of the industry there that not many people are even aware of him as an artist. (They are surely missing out). He performs mainly in Asia, Europe and Russia where his following is huge and his reputation will certainly not be affected by the little herd of online trolls you are attempting to whip into a frenzy with your asinine, ignorant comments.
I have no interest whatsoever in responding to your insults. Instead, I’ll say this: I am am not questioning Mr. Harliono’s skills as a pianist, nor where the main bulk of his supporters live. The incontrovertible facts remain: Mr. Harliono is based in the UK, represented by a british agent and avidly documents and promotes his performances in Europe. In my opinion, by having signed up as a participant of the Tchaikovsky competition he has become a screaming example of a young generation so thirsty for fame and recognition, that won’t even mind signing up for a competition organized by a dictatorship – a propaganda machine dressed with culture.
By all means, let him take part in ANY other competition in the world!
If I was in his place, I would start looking for appartments in St. Petersburg…
Very mean spirited comments from Disconcerted. George Harliono is just a pianist who wants to perform in a competition that obviously means a lot to many people around the world. This doesn’t have to be about politics unless we allow it to be.
Funny that you choose the expression “mean spirited” to label my comments, especially when I have not expressed judgements about Mr. Harliono’s playing.
I am simply stating an opinion – which seems to be quite itchy among some of his followers… – about the dubious morality of participating at the TC while mantaining residency and part of his career in Europe.
I am, however, grateful to read your last sentence: “this doesn’t have to be about politics unless we allow it to be” – EXACTLY! How many more lives does Russia need to eradicate for you to decide that this is a purely political situation?! How many more kilometers of invaded territory does Russia need to single-handedly steal in order for you to stop whitewashing the behavior of those who will collude with a dictatorship for the sake of “performing in a competition that obviously means a lot to many people around the world”?
The false naivety of your statements is staggering.
Can you thing of a reason why respectable pianists rejected any idea of coming to perform in Germany in the times of the WW2?
By participating in the moscow event GH shows his support of the destruction and genocide of Ukraine, This useful idiot is being used by the russian propaganda machine as an example of the approval of the despicable russian aggression by the west.
As people have said elsewhere on this thread – maybe he is participating for personal reasons that have nothing to do with a ‘thirst for fame and recognition’. Did you witness his performance in the 2019 competition where his nervous failed him? Have you ever given a piano recital? Have you ever played badly and felt that you had to come back from that? Walking back onto that very platform and playing well will have far more significance for him than the black and white picture you are painting here.
Yet again, another feeble attempt at whitewashing. So, in your opinion, the fact that Mr. Harliono had an unfortunate outcome in the last TC due to nerves justifies signing up again for a competition which, in the meantime, has become a cultural extension of a dictatorial, invasive regime? Is Mr. Harliono’s desire for redemption, or the will to prove himself worthy more important than standing clear from an institution which fraternizes with a genocidal government?! Nice set of moral principles, dear Guest…
You: a) sideline the point and; b) misinterpret what I said… I said that maybe George H. is not just entering the competition for fame and recognition. I did not say that it is right to support Putin’s regime. Don’t put words into someone else’s mouth.
Your opinion is based on political views and lacks musical criteria. The Tchaikovsky competition was created in the 1950s and many musicians from western countries participated in it during soviet times and they were never criticised nor banned like you are doing with Mr Harliono. Music is music after all and Tchaikovsky is Tchaikovsky. There are participants of USA, France and Italy and nobody expects them to support Putin’s policies about Ukraine.
For the same reason pianists performing in the USA are not expected to support that country invasion of Irak, Vietnam or other countries. You are surprisingly inquisitive about Mr Harliono for a reason that is obviously not political. If you don’t like him, don’t go to his concerts but let the thousands of followers he has to and see him.
Give the boy a chance! He had his heart set on this when he played in the competition in 2019 and had an attack of nerves and is going back to try again. He was only 18 and being on that stage is tough at the best of times. He owes it to himself, if only for his own confidence/self-esteem.
Yes, of course! By all means, go to Russia and play at the expense of a murderous dictatorship just in order to redeem yourself from a bad day in 2019…!
The best lesson a young musician could ever learn is that art is not about themselves, but about the whole of humanity. If someone wants to make their way to Russia for an ego trip, they should do so. Their moral compass couldn’t be clearer…
A NATO-bot speaking! Probably does not even know where The Ukraine is (which is why he uses a pseudonym)
It’s is outrageous that you erect yourself as a reference of morality. Such arrogance and ambition to tell all of us what is right or wrong can only come from an attitude of disrespect and supremacy unacceptable in our times.
Some more tolerance would be very welcome
In light of events, it would be wiser for him to choose to compete in a different international piano competition. He can prove to himself (and to others) by competing and winning in one of the other important competitions that are happening this year and next.
Slightly nasty tone of finger pointing here…
You name it it “finger pointing”, I name it “calling bulls*it” 🙂
What a sad commentary on the morals of these people who probably think they’re participating in “cultural diplomacy”
Are the events going to be broadcast in TV? If so where? NBC? Fox? The Boring Channel?
its laughlable that one would think of this anachronistic sausage fest to be anything else but the swan song of a mysoginistic, retrograde, anachronistic cultural manifestation.
The sooner these charades cease to exist, the best for everybody…
VK is live streaming all the rounds/concerts globally.
Only the willfully blind and deaf can say that art has nothing to do with politics… that is to say, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign and independent nation.
I am guessing that you must be one of those people who actually believe that when Russia invaded Ukraine all the big western brands actually left Russia in a concerted stand against the military action. I mean it couldnt possibly be that they just changed the ownership of their franchises and (sometimes rather subtly) changed the names of their brands. So maybe you should ponder that while you drink your caffeinated sparkling soft drink or munch on that burger. And another thing.. where do you think the west is getting all their oil from right now if not from Russia… India maybe? Wonder where the Indians are getting it from??? Its not so easy to direct your righteous indignation at a multi-national is it? So lets just focus our attantions on an incredibly talented young pianist who just wants to make music for people to enjoy. Just stop it, you naughty little boy! I think you get my point.
You know nothing about the person you attack, Pop. Are you, like Andy, an accomplished musician with a distinguished career? And what exactly is your point? You conflate multi-national corporations with a single individual. Yes, let’s focus attention on that misguided decision to participate in a clearly corrupt and morally bankrupt competition. I doubt you get the point.
The Ukraine a “sovereign and independent nation”? Where have you been for the past 1000 years?
And where have you been since August 24, 1991?
For the uninformed down-voters of my comment: Ukraine officially declared itself an independent country on 24 August 1991, when the communist Supreme Soviet (parliament) of Ukraine proclaimed that Ukraine would no longer follow the laws of USSR and only the laws of the Ukrainian SSR, de facto declaring Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union. On 1 December, voters approved a referendum formalizing independence from the Soviet Union. At that point they became a sovereign and independent nation.
It’s an international music competition. There’s no bloodshed here. And if we know anything about Putin, it is that breaking ties with him can have deadly consequences.
If the results play out favorably to prize-deserving non-Russians, how will this be reported? I doubt the inverse: that Russians will triumph.
Why do young musicians need to be guilty of Putin’s actions?
Be careful what you wish for.
Strongly agree!
I would answer your question “why do young musicians need to be guilty of Putin’s actions?” with another question: “why do young musicians need to participate in a competition directly sponsored by Putin?”
Choices. Life is full of them, and theh define us. Tough luck…
I’m sorry to read you detest Van Cliburn.
Another fake published by the Russians. Looks like 2019 jury on English-language pages. No mention of the jury at all on Russian-language pages.
Yes there is! You have to look closely. 3 piano jurists have been named in Russian news articles: Denis Matsuev, Michel Beroff & Peter Donahoe.
Ian Bousefield, former LSO and VPO trombonist?
Van Cliburn entered the Tchaikovsky competition in 1958, just two years after the USSR crushed the 1956 Hungarian bid for freedom, and at the depth of the cold war. Did he receive the same opprobrium that attaches to Western entrants to this year’s competition?
The photos on the Competition’s website show the piano candidates yesterday drawing nos. to play. There are 3 photos of the young woman from the US, Min Joo Yi, & she looks terrified. She drew no. 1 & will be the first to play tomorrow.
As already mentioned – but the comment keeps being deleted for some reason (!!!), the jury list here is simply that from 2019 which hasn’t been taken down yet.
I saw that link, too, Norman. It was linked on the Tchaikovsky website, I believe, & then it wasn’t!
You have to google Russian news sources using an online translator for clues. The Russian media is as impatient as we are to know the juries, but a few piano jury names are confirmed unofficially: Peter Donahoe of the UK, Michel Beroff of France & of course, Denis Matsuev.
I suspect they’re delaying the announcement until international jurists have all arrived in Russia. We know that travel will be difficult & unpredictable. Some may not make it.
Also I’d bet they are trying to minimize international scrutiny on invited jurists, who could be pressured into not coming if word got out before they travel. Once they’re in Russia & in place to serve on the jury, they can’t back out.
I’m sure the Competition knows exactly who their juries are but aren’t announcing them until the jurists are actually there. And I’m sure they have local artists standing by to fill for those who don’t make it. Rather than making tons of announcements about changes, I’m sure they’re just waiting ‘til they know for sure who they have.
Hating, protesting, and foot stomping about everything Russian does nothing positive.
George decides for himself what to do. He is a very talented musician, and he is not to blame for anything. First of all, the countries of Europe are to blame, they have corrupted Putin. Can you make a claim to them? Of course, it’s easier to lash out at a musician.. Isn’t it? And if Britain doesn’t pay enough attention to its talents, they are paving their own way. Stop tying George’s wings. I think he has a strong spirit, and this trolling will not affect him in any way.
The Russian press has just dropped the name of another piano jurist: the eminent Chinese piano virtuoso Liu Shi Kun, 84. Press reports say that he is en route to Moscow to serve on this year’s jury. Shi Kun was the 2nd place winner of the very 1st Tchaikovsky Competition.
Liu Shi Kun is someone who’s not the least bit afraid of a hostile govt. or public censure. He has a dramatic history of being at odds with his own govt. The Chinese govt. allegedly “disappeared” him during the Cultural Revolution.
From 1967 – 1973 he was in prison, where guards took pleasure in beating his hands. He had no access to a piano during those years, yet once released he resumed his international career, soloing with such orchs as the Boston Symphony.
I’ll be disappointed if Liu Shi Kun doesn’t serve on this jury! I can’t think of anyone better qualified. Maybe he can knock some sense into Gergiev.
Denis Matsuev, Michel Beroff & Peter Donahoe are also being reported in the press as piano jurists.
And here come the troll comments about Peter Donohoe (UK) appearing on the jury…
Just seen the jury line up (shown online during the Opening Ceremony): I may be mistaken but Peter Donohoe doesn’t seem to be there. Denis Matsuev, Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Boris Petrushanky are definitely there…
No, Donahoe isn’t on the jury. Neither is Michel Beroff. Both were names mentioned by the Russian press. They got Liu Shi Kun & Matsuev right, though.