Saturday, July 30, 2005

Rose and the IKI and More

Jerome Rose on origins of the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes:

"It [Marlboro Festival] was an all-around exposure to the world of the arts; it was a dramatic crossroads in my life," says Rose, now a respected interpreter of Liszt and other great 19th-century composers. Rose is on the faculty at Mannes College of Music in Manhattan. "I wanted to do something similar in the piano world." .

and the seeming dysfunctionalism of today's piano competitions:

"I'm trying to regard them as young artists, not racehorses, where if you come in second you're not as good as the first,"says Rose, who finds the more typical competition track, which pits young pianists against each other in high-pressure circumstances, distastefully crass. "All of that is a very warped attitude. One problem with (competitions) is that, if you happen to be in your late 20s and still studying, there's this feeling that it's all over for you if you haven't won one and are not yet known."

We agree. Read the rest here

Visit the Marlboro Festival here

Visit the International Keyboard Institute and Festival here

And the fall-back for the competition burn-out: Grad School and the pretensions of academe?

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