No thunderous applause, more limited cheering. That is what Stella Chen receives from the audience when her name is called as the first prize winner by jury chair Gilles Ledure. The absolutely expected winner – and don't get me wrong because he should have won! – Timothy Chooi receives, when his name is called as the second laureate, an applause that must give Stella Chen, who just preceded him, red cheeks. Such cheering, immediately a standing ovation… We know it from the great days and he is the only one who fully lives up to those great days of old.
Those great days... Do I dare to state this? So be it, but in my view it is much worse, more troubling and in no way acceptable that flatness in the playing, that mediocrity apparently has also become the norm here when someone who played like Stella Chen can win in the final. There have been quite bizarre results, but this time it is truly exasperating. It reflects our Western society where bland mediocrity has become the norm in everything, levelling down and easy commercial appeal without demanding effort from the consumer who does not quite get enough and therefore asks for more of the same.
Media, education and politics are guilty of this levelling down. They have lost touch with reality as much as possible and resort to simplicity. Call it destruction if you will, because what else is levelling down and mediocrity as a norm? I cannot laugh about it, on the contrary I am angry and scandalized instead of all the talent that is pushed aside for the lesser, but acceptable to everyone.
The further ranking, well, you can have a different opinion about a few places, but personally I found that there was too little musical top talent. More than an abundance of virtuosity, technique and what have you, but a lack of singing, of musicality that penetrates, that tells, that laughs and cries and sings.
Violin playing is degraded to a technical affair where everyone prefers to play the same thing, but for that uses an enormously expensive violin that the player will never be able to own unless he/she becomes very rich. And that expensive violin from the 18th century or so has lost its musical value, or at least the value it had in the time when it was built. All those famous violins have been adjusted, rebuilt one by one and therefore certainly no longer sound like they sounded in their time.
The organization of the Queen Elisabeth Competition must think about the results of this KEW Violin 2019. If they don't, it will become vitriol… Let me put it that way, through level decreases, the competition can degenerate into a provincial, calling itself the best in the world competition.
Positive was that I sat for six days next to two nice, cheerful, charming Dutch ladies who shared pretty much the same opinion on top of that. It was always pleasant discussion about this and that. And that the KEW piano next year may choose again for Music as winner and not for the competition beast with an inflated curriculum vitae. Honesty lasts the longest...
The results
First Prize: Stella Chen (USA, 26)
Second Prize: Timothy Chooi (Canada, 25)
Third Prize: Stephen Kim (USA, 23)
Fourth Prize: Shannon Lee (Canada - USA, 26)
Fifth Prize: Júlia Pusker (Hungary, 27)
Sixth Prize: Ioana Cristina Goicea (Romania - Germany, 26)
The six unranked laureates, in alphabetical order
Luke Hsu (USA, 28)
Sylvia Huang (Belgium, 25)
Seiji Okamoto (Japan, 24)
Eva Rabchevska (Ukraine, 22)
Ji Won Song (Korea, 26)
Yukiko Uno (Japan, 23)
