COMMENTARY: International Jean Sibelius Conductors’ Competition badly needs winners

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By Vesa Sirén
     
      The International Jean Sibelius Conductors’ Competition has been held here in 1995, 2000, and 2005, but the next competition will not be arranged in 2010 as scheduled.
      ”We would like to hold the next competition in Helsinki’s new Music House”, reports the Chairman of the Jury, conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen.
     
Salonen notes further that he and Vice Chairman, conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste, will need more time to consider a new concept for the event, as the outcome of the last competition was a severe letdown.
      Moreover there are problems relating to the schedules of the international jury in 2012 and 2013.
     
There has been something peculiar about the Jean Sibelius Conductors’ Competition right from the outset.
      In 1995, the level of the contest was a disappointment, and the jury felt that not one of the contestants met the criteria for a winner of the Sibelius Conductors’ Competition.
      No Finns were among the four finalists of the second holding of the event in 2000, and the winner of the competition was Olari Elts from Estonia. Yasuo Shinozaki of Japan came in second, while Susanna Mälkki - who has since enjoyed the most impressive career of the contestants - was not among the four finalists selected.
     
The third Jean Sibelius Conductors’ Competition in 2005 was an unmitigated catastrophe.
      Only three contestants made it through to the final, and after the final, the Jury made a decision to award no first, second, or third prizes.
      However, the jury ended up giving smaller prizes in quite new categories, including the Encouragement Award and the Finals Participant Prize that was given to two contestants.
      The jury used only part of the total of EUR 37,000 that had been set aside to be awarded as prizes in the competition.
     
The sponsors of the event, including the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Sibelius Estate, were roundly shocked.
      The musicians of the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra sent the Jury an indignant letter.
      The Jury was also slammed for the decision by the media, from Helsingin Sanomat to the BBC Music Magazine. Nobody claimed that the level of the final was particularly good, but the decision was regarded as quite an overreaction.
     
Feelings seem to run high around this competition.
      Five years ago, composer Jouni Kaipainen contemplated in Helsingin Sanomat why the competition had failed to clarify the basics of a conductor’s job in laymen’s terms.
      Kaipainen also wrote about ”a farcical humiliation cavalcade”.
      Salonen issued a furious reply, but it did not change the basic fact that the competition is difficult for the audience to understand.
     
What should be done? As far as the audience is concerned, it could be better if the number of short tricky parts in the first rounds were reduced.
      Instead, the first rounds should contain a sensible piece of music that is rehearsed and played ”like at a concert”.
      By this means it would be easier to understand whether or not the outcome of years of hard work has been successful.
      Another way to serve the audience better would be to hold a public feedback session during which video clips of each performance would be shown. The secrets of the conducting techniques might then begin to open up for the layman, too.
     
If the Jury deems that they cannot themselves give public feedback in the middle of the competition, one of the well-known conductors and pedagogues, for example Jorma Panula or Leif Segerstam, could be asked to hold the session.
      Panula and Segerstam could hardly be members of the Competition Jury in any case, as some contestants are their students.
      Moreover, it would be absolutely necessary to arrange an event in which those who did not make it through to the final could meet the Jury and ask for informal feedback in the same way as in the Sibelius Violin Competition.
      Now the Jury has given feedback only occasionally, even though all contestants would need it.
     
What are the factors that make the International Jean Sibelius Conductors’ Competition tempting?
      They include the reputation brought by the tradition, the weight of the Jury members, the programme, the cash awards, and the possibility of conducting engagements in the future.
      If the competition is not tempting enough to attract exceptional talents to participate, the Jury could just select the best among the contestants as the winner.
      This is done even in minor competitions in which the jurors’ possibly subconscious sense of superiority seldom prevents them from dishing out the prizes.
      The winner might never make any impressive international career, but the finalists could feel that they received more than just money - an opportunity to perform, new contacts, and a step forward in their education.
     
This is what one would wish the next contestants in the Sibelius Conductors’ Competition to be given.
      The fact is that the competition takes itself all too seriously if it is arranged four times and a winner is found only once.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 15.6.2010


Previously in HS International Edition:
  International Jean Sibelius Conductors´ Competition to be postponed (16.1.2009)
  No winner in "disappointing" Sibelius Conductors´ Competition (16.9.2005)
  Elts wins the Sibelius Conducting Competition (19.5.2000)

Links:
  International Jean Sibelius Conductors´ Competition

VESA SIRÉN / Helsingin Sanomat
vesa.siren@hs.fi