Brum dumps piano competition
OrchestrasThe City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra has ended its 15-year involvement with the highly-regarded Dudley International Piano Competition.
A new chief executive Emma Stenning and chief conductor Kazuki Yamada have other priorities. Stenning told competition director John Humphreys that they are working on a five-year plan in a climate of shrinking resources.
The Dudley competition, founded in 1967, has served as a career launchpad for pianists as diverse as Peter Donohoe, Joanna MacGregor, Alicja Fiderkiewicz and Paul Lewis (pictured).
Humphreys is now reconstructing the competition for solo piano, without orchestra.
Unsurprising, considering the sh*tshow of the 2023 competition, with all RNCM-associated finalists, the disorganisation of the final round with CBSO and the Competition management, and the debacle with finalist Maxim Kinasov afterwards, where he publicly complained and had a massive public shaming from involved parties
2022 competition. Indeed there were problems (not, post Covid unique to Dudley) but the previous finals were immensely enjoyable.
..the ‘debacle’ as you so eloquently put it had no effect on the performances all of which (including from the noisy Russian) were exemplary.
Of course there was no public shaming of the CBSO, the conductor, orchestral management and even the public naming of a junior member of the CBSO staff??
Yes, the Russian’s behaviour was unprofessional. He had a justified grievance but the way he chose to express it was a disgrace
I’m more than just “the Russian”, but I appreciate your thoughts. Perhaps you would have a better idea of highlighting the extent of disorganisation publicly, as private venues did not lead to anywhere?
We hear that you publicly named and shamed the parties involved in the competition. This was unprofessional. That said, your pianism throughout was of the highest order. It is conceivable that this ‘incident’ helped sway the CBSO’s decision though clearly you were not to know that.
I was there at the finals and the earlier rounds and heard most of the details of what happened. Your behaviour was shameful and many people, including myself, blocked you on social media. Let’s hope, for your own sake, that you have learnt an important lesson. If you have a complaint, don’t do it in public!
Not sure blocking on social media is the greatest of penalties.
To head comments in response to this post might I acknowledge the formidable support of the CBSO, its former CEO, Stephen Maddock and conductor Michael Seal. It was much fun and a great addition to Birmingham’s cultural scene. The finalists who appeared with the CBSO over these fifteen years will long remember the experience.
Yes, especially the experience of the 2022 audience.
We’ll remember the disorganisation of the final round with CBSO, an unfair jury that awarded the 1st Prize to Tyler Hay, despite his obvious memory lapse in Saint-Saens, and the absence of conducting a public vote in the hall for the audience prize. All of this was disappointing…
Additionally, we’ll recall the unfair treatment of Maxim Kinasov, who was the standout performer in the competition but was denied a full rehearsal in the final round.
Considering all these factors, Emma made the absolutely right decision to terminate CBSO’s collaboration with the Dudley Competition.
‘Unfair jury’? What evidence have you for that? None. Were you party to the jury deliberations? If so you had no right to be there.
An unfair jury in my opinion and the opinion of those sitting around me, of course.
I’m a professional pianist and deeply involved in music. In the final, we liked Jones and Kinasov’s performances the most. They performed vividly and brilliantly.
Tyler wasn’t our cup of tea, sorry.
Mr Kinasov’s grievances have been much publicised, mostly by himself when in a spectacular Facebook rant he named and shamed everybody who came within his gaze. He is a fine pianist who well deserved third prize judging by most of the audience comments around me.
From what I read in his FB post, Mr. Kinasov criticised only public figures – the Chairman of Dudley, the conductor, and the CEO of CBSO.
A junior member of the CBSO staff is also a public figure since her name and photo were published and accessible to everyone on the CBSO website, for which Mr. Kinasov was also publicly named and shamed. Balance.
So why do you only write about his behaviour, but say nothing about the inappropriate behaviour from people associated with the orchestra and the competition towards him? Fair, I don’t think so!
I was in the hall that day and heard entirely different comments about him from the audience, as well as discussions about the fairness of the results.
Clearly, we were in different halls and heard different performances.
It happens – can’t please all the people all the time. And you weren’t (I take it) in the jury room. You forget also that the previous rounds (as in any competition) form part of the jury decision.
It makes us very upset reading this. Regulars at the Symphony Hall love Kazuki’s concerts but there’s a worry about this new Chief Executive. We haven’t met her but we’ve heard from the musicians that she is introducing changes and it is terrible to read that she’s got a 5 year plan to shrink the orchestra’s resources. She definitely doesn’t have Stephen Maddox’s knowhow being as how she’s new to the city and doesn’t know about music. Stephen always found a way to balance the books. When the Council took the orchestra’s funding away a few years ago the musicians asked the audience for donations which we gladly offered.
We should be supporting the youngsters especially with the royal Conservatoire down the road and the CBSO school now open, which was a huge project for Stephen and Mirga. So why aren’t Emma and Kazuki supporting the piano competition?
“it is terrible to read that she’s got a 5 year plan to shrink the orchestra’s resources.”
The report doesn’t actually say that. Read it again.
I wonder if the issue regarding Dudley PC is the five year plan or the behaviour of one of the contestants after the competition, though?
I completely agree. Short-sighted stupidity, in my opinion!
Without any particular inside track or agenda, I suspect what has happened here is either that the Competition was unable to agree a viable rate for hiring the orchestra; and/or the orchestra has declined to promote the festival final as part of its own concert season. Hard to know why in either case but these are difficult times for all arts organisations, and at the end of the day, the books have to be balanced or the musicians don’t eat.
Perhaps also worth saying that orchestral finals (at any rate, with a professional orchestra) in the Dudley Competition are a relatively new thing and that for many (if not most) years the Competition managed very well without any orchestral involvement at all. This is in many ways a return to the status quo ante.
The competition paid for the hire of Symphony Hall and the CBSO included the finals as part of its concert season at no further cost, the only professional orchestra in the UK to do this.
A short-sighted decision. Not impressed with the new CE at all, so far. Out of her depth???
She’s an abject disaster so far. Bring back the old guard before the orchestra goes tits up.
Mr Kinasov harbours a grievance still. He made fun whilst the sun shone but the sun ain’t shining anymore. His reputation has (we hear) been badly damaged through his behaviour. Still, as I mentioned we in the audience admired his pianism and congratulate him on winning 3rd prize. Concentrate on your playing Mr Kinasov, a bright future (somewhere) beckons – the sun will shine again. Promise!
Thank you for your opinion, but I believe you have clearly overestimated the impact of this situation on my life)
I don’t know what, from whom, and in what context you heard, but I can honestly say that this situation hasn’t affected me in any way, except for the minor stress caused by the terribly ill-mannered people affiliated with the competition and the orchestra.
These individuals engaged in humiliating public harassment of me in the comments on Facebook and on their Facebook pages in response to my presentation of facts and an objective complaint about biased treatment, irresponsibility, and poor work.
Obviously, this was an attempt to pressure me and make me remove the truth, which naturally led to nothing, as well as my private complaint led to nothing before going public.
As we can now see, the competition has suffered much more from this pressure, public harassment, and people’s behaviour towards me.
Was this several-week public harassment, insults directed at me, and attempts to find compromising information on me worth the loss of a 15-year collaboration with a leading UK orchestra? I don’t think so.
No one from the audience congratulated me on receiving the 3rd Prize.
If you did, please state your name here, instead of hiding behind a nickname.
The sun is still shining and of course, will shine forever, no matter how hard you try or want the opposite.
If you didn’t see that after Dudley, I received another prize at a competition in the UK, I recommend you visit my social networks more often)
I hope that Dudley Competition has learnt an important lesson too.
Don’t put one of the competition finalists in an unequal condition, and if you do, acknowledge your organisational mistakes and treat the victim with respect instead of seeking revenge, as this could be detrimental to the event.
Of course we (DIPC) wish you well. Your fine pianism is there to be heard. As for the competition it will survive – merely reverting to what it had been for years. Arguably a 50 minute recital is a better means of determining a ‘winner’. As for the rest of this unfortunate incident – time passes, the world (such as it is) moves on and we get on with our lives.
Having wished you well Maxim (sincerely) I need, by way of a small sting to add this footnote: earlier in Norman’s post you mentioned somewhere that I had blocked you on Facebook. Allow me to remind you why. In a post competition private phone call you lambasted the orchestra (and conductor) and poured scorn on Tyler Hay’s winning performance (I made notes of our conversation at the time). You thus made my continuing connection with you on Facebook untenable. As for the jury making the ‘wrong’ decision – that is not for you (or anyone) to say. The jury members voted independently and without discussion taking into consideration the performances from the earlier rounds. All of the above gives some context I believe. And now let’s forget it
John, I’m glad to hear from you, and thank you for your evaluation of my professional work.
On this website I didn’t mention anywhere that you blocked me on Facebook after my complaint; that information was in my Facebook post.
I apologise, but since you’ve brought the details of our private conversation after the competition into the public eye, I think it’s necessary for me to clarify the timeline of events during those days.
You called me on November 25th (my phone keeps call history), and during the conversation, I did criticise the conductor and the orchestra for our performance in the Final Round.
However, I did not pour scorn on Tyler’s performance; I simply expressed my professional point of view after listening to recordings of all three finalists and emphasised that this was my personal point of view.
I understand your feelings as a jury member about this matter, but I believe you could have understood my perspective at that time as well. I felt a sense of injustice and bias against me, and it was perfectly reasonable.
On the day of the final, I was even denied a practice room at the Birmingham Conservatoire before my rehearsal because the room was not reserved for me, although the jury chairman had promised each finalist a practice room.
Meanwhile, Tyler was granted a room, and I witnessed this as I saw him in the room practising. So, as you can see, unfairness towards me as a finalist began much earlier than that rehearsal in Symphony Hall.
After the final reception, I approached every jury member except you, and all of them unanimously stated that I had the best Semifinal Round of all the contestants, and that it was simply “fantastic.” Of course, these are just my words, and you may choose not to believe them if you wish.
It’s important to note that I never publicly contested the competition results or publicly evaluated anyone’s performances except my own. I shared my assessments on performances in private conversations, as is common in our profession.
After our call on November 25th, we continued to communicate via Facebook Messenger for almost a week, until December 1st, when I ultimately decided to file a complaint with the CBSO CEO regarding this situation.
After submitting my complaint and receiving a response from the CBSO CEO, I checked Facebook Messenger and noticed that your photo had disappeared, and your profile was blocked for me. This is how it happened, and I have all the screenshots with dates if you want me to confirm it.
To be honest, your Facebook block and the CBSO CEO’s response to my private complaint via email were the reasons why I finally decided to make my complaint public.
In one thing, you are right; we have to move on with what we have.
I sincerely wish the Dudley Competition continued success, and I genuinely hope that the nightmare we all experienced a year ago will never happen again on any side.
Hi Maxim, yes, we need to let things move on despite differences of opinion with regard to this nightmare (as you rightly call it). All good wishes for your career. Both you and Dudley will survive!