10 percent drop out of Queen Elisabeth competition
NewsThe Queen Elisabeth Competition for violinists begins on Monday.
Seventy contestants were admitted.
Only 63 have turned up.
This is one of the world’s prized trophies.
The first-round jury consists of: Gilles Ledure (Chair), Lorenzo Gatto, Philippe Graffin, Koichiro Harada, Dong-Suk Kang, Victor Kissine, Kyung Sun Lee, Tatiana Samouil, Dmitry Sitkovetsky and Isabelle van Keulen.
Likely unfortunate circumstances, which are bound to happen. Odd that you neglected to list some of the highest-profile jury members: Dumay, Fried, Vadim Repin, Midori, Sareika from the Berlin Phil, and the inimitable Baiba Skride.
This is the jury for the first round
Never heard of a competition where they have a different jury just for the first round…..
Most competitions do this. Either for the screening process to be admitted into the first round, or for the rounds before the semifinals. Extremely common practice. Having participated in competitions .
Must be something which was not common in the 80s when I participated in several competitions….
Welcome to the Queen Elizabeth competition, where they traditionally bring in celebrity judges for the final round – which is ridiculous. I once asked Rudolf Firkusny how he could cast a vote for a winner without hearing the earlier rounds. he said “Well, I took the other judges word for it.”
Takes a lot of financial privilege to spend a month at a violin competition. Probably 75% of the remaining participants have Louis Vuitton bags and Hermes wallets. Maybe the dropouts needed to pay their rent. *this isn’t Eastern Europe c. 1910 anymore.
and the competition benefits from an exhaustive series of performances without the need to pay the artists. Brilliant scheme.
QE and Indianapolis remain the top two violin competitions. Winning one doesn’t mean much anymore, however.
Cheers!
They are given free accommodation by families as long as they are in the competition, they only have to pay for travelling. No Hermes wallet or privilege needed
The potential for loss is very high; not only a loss at the competition but the loss of potential income, for a month. Host family, fine—I’m sure the host family’s would be overjoyed to have the chance to be temporary guardians. But, indeed, it is not a low-cost experience.
Recent winners of QE? Can you name the past three? I can recall only the most recent, and more because my niece performed (in an orchestra) accompanying her.
Indianapolis has discoebred more interesting musicians in recent cycles, in my opinion
Thanks Eeyore for your insight!
If this is one of the world’s prize trophies, why did seven cry off?
Perhaps they took” Bartok’s quote to heart: competitions are for horses”.
this competition is a joke. just look at the long list of winners. the ones who won (with the exception of one or two) were the most boring and unremarkable candidates. it is so political, and the way the votes are handled surprises even those who are on the jury. why? Because it happens behind closed doors, and is officiated by competition administration . Not the jury. They vote but they don’t know what the hell happens to their vote once they’re in. And Brussels audiences (mostly locals) are also some of the most racist out there. Some have stopped supporting the competition altogether because they claim only Asian people win. And to appease them, there’s usually one or two undeserving Belgians that make it in to the finals. Who else makes it in to the finals? Those that are already studying or have studied at the Chapel. Who are the victims? The contestants. Always.
Pianists remember the old days, when the QE winner was always chosen by Emil Gilels – he always got his way, and the winner was always a Russian.