“A conducting competition with a difference begins in Radom, Poland on July 9 when up to 40 entrants selected by video submission to take the stand to try their hand,” writes Anthony Brown in Thursday’s (6/29) MusicalAmerica.com (subscription required). “The difference? Not until the final round will the members of the jury get to see whom they have been voting for. The Audite International Conducting Competition, patron Yuri Simonov, is the brainchild of Jonathan Brett, director of the Conductors’ Academy, a U.K.-based organization. ‘We believe this is a unique event in competition history,’ he says, ‘for it is organized on the basis of our belief that the effectiveness of a conductor’s work can be judged through listening alone—and that elimination the possibility to know the identity of the conductors they are judging is the most effective way to eliminate any possible bias or prejudice.’ Launched earlier this year, the competition attracted entries from more than 25 countries. … Says Brett, ‘we will be using the system adopted by orchestral auditions around the world and placing the jury behind a screen…’ … Playing for the competition is the Radom Chamber Orchestra, which has played for eight Conductors’ Academy masterclasses.”
Posted June 29, 2017
