Print
E-Mail
tool name
closeSunday, Nov. 01, 2009
Former Cliburn head to play role in reviving once-prestigious Tchaikovsky competition
Former Cliburn head will play a major role in reviving the Tchaikovsky competition.
By TIM MADIGAN
dfw.com
Just a few days before the April telephone call, Richard Rodzinski had read a lengthy profile of famed Russian conductor Valery Gergiev in The New York Times Sunday Magazine.
The maestro, described as tireless and charismatic, was the head of the prestigious Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, principal conductor of the London Symphony and frequent guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He was also a close personal friend of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.So when Gergiev himself placed the call to Fort Worth, he had Rodzinski’s full attention. The Russian master, as it turned out, was asking for help. The Tchaikovsky International Music Competition, once a premier cultural event where Van Cliburn made his name a half-century ago, had recently fallen into disrepute and it was Gergiev’s task to restore it.
"Gergiev said he had just been appointed the chairman of the Tchaikovsky," remembered Rodzinski, the longtime head of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. "He decided to take this very seriously, not be a figurehead but really get personally involved because he knew they had been in serious trouble. He said it would be extremely helpful to them if I could be there for the first meeting of the Tchaikovsky organizing committee."
That call led Rodzinski to travel to Moscow last June, just days after he presided over his final Cliburn competition in Fort Worth. But what Rodzinski expected to be a one-time consultation quickly turned into much more. At a crowded news conference in Russia last Monday, Gergiev announced that Rodzinski had agreed to serve as a senior adviser to Russian music officials and head the planning committee for the next Tchaikovsky competition, scheduled for June 2011. The event includes prizes for piano, violin, cello and voice.The 64-year-old Rodzinski, who announced his retirement from the Cliburn over the summer, plans to commute to his new job in Russia from his home in Fort Worth and do some work via the Internet. In the past few months, he has attended Tchaikovsky meetings along with Gergiev, top officials in the Russian Ministry of Culture and senior aides to Putin.
Monday’s announcement was rich in romantic irony, given that Cliburn, Rodzinski’s friend and namesake of the prestigious Fort Worth competition, made his name by winning the first Tchaikovsky competition at the height of the Cold War in 1958. In recent years, however, the competition that Cliburn himself calls "a jewel in the crown of Russian culture," had faded toward irrelevance because of a lack of funding and corruption in the jury process.
"There is a general recognition that they [Gergiev and other Russian officials] were trying to do a perestroika, a reconstruction of the whole [competition] and to try to bring it back to its glory days," Rodzinski said this week.
"I’m thrilled with the opportunity," Rodzinski said.
News of Rodzinski’s new Russian alliance was also greeted enthusiastically by music observers.
"If anyone can turn it around, it’s Richard," said Veda Kaplinsky, head of the piano department at the Juilliard School and a recent Cliburn juror.
Building Cliburn’s legacy
When Rodzinski took over as head of the Cliburn Foundation in 1986, no previous executive director had presided over more than one of the quadrennial Cliburn competitions. It would not have been surprising if Rodzinski’s tenure had been similarly brief.
The son of another internationally famous conductor, Rodzinski had already served as a senior administrator at the San Francisco Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, was fluent in five languages (including Russian) and possessed a vast network of contacts in the music world.
But one competition led to the next and, under Rodzinski’s leadership, the Cliburn’s reputation grew. During his tenure, Rodzinski helped produce a series of critically acclaimed television documentaries about the competition. He instituted strict jury rules and computerized voting. This year’s competition was broadcast live on the Internet.
Most important, Cliburn medalists became highly sought-after young soloists, including the gold medalists in 1997 and 2001, Jon Nakamatsu and Olga Kern, respectively, and the silver medalist from 2005, Joyce Yang. This year’s competition made international headlines by awarding one of two gold medals to 20-year-old Nobuyuki Tsujii, a blind pianist from Japan.
It has been years since any Tchaikovsky laureate created such buzz. Organized the year after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world’s first satellite, the Tchaikovsky was meant to demonstrate that Russian superiority extended into the performing arts. Instead Cliburn, a lanky young Texan, captivated Moscow audiences with a mastery of music composed by Tchaikovsky. Soviet Premier Nikita Kruschev also professed admiration for the American’s playing.
Cliburn became an international sensation, and the Tchaikovsky competition itself achieved iconic status, prestige that endured until the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
Government funding of the competition then dwindled. More problematic, Tchaikovsky juries were dominated by Russian musicians, who tended to promote their own students over more deserving musicians from other countries.
Kaplinsky, the Juilliard professor and Cliburn juror, also served on a recent Tchaikovsky jury, calling the judging process "corrupt to the core." By contrast, the Cliburn under Rodzinski was known for attention to detail and an almost obsessive concern for jury integrity.
"Every single part of it was gone over by [Rodzinski], from every angle," Kaplinsky said. "The rules of the competition, the repertoire requirements, the voting procedures, the jury selection. Nothing was done flippantly."
Glen Kwok, president of the World Federation of International Music Competitions, said that because of his work with the Cliburn, Rodzinski will immediately help restore credibility to the Tchaikovsky.
"People want to know when they go that they are going to have an equal opportunity to win. I know that’s what he will bring to the competition, and that will be amazing for them," Kwok said.
Planning for the future
When Rodzinski traveled to Moscow in June, he said he had yet to decide whether to return to the Cliburn for another competition.
"You get to a certain point where you feel that you’ve done just about all you know how to do, and that maybe some fresh insight, some fresh blood wouldn’t be bad," he said.
The way forward was made clear in a private lunch at Moscow’s famous Cafe Pushkin with Alexei Shalashov, a senior official in the Russian Ministry of Culture. Shalashov offered Rodzinski the position as an adviser and chairman of the key Tchaikovsky planning committee.
"It was a bizarre moment," Rodzinski said. "I just felt a profound sense of appreciation for the work that I’ve been doing for the last quarter-century."
As part of its restructuring, the Tchaikovsky has already adopted rules and procedures similar to those of the Cliburn. At Monday’s news conference, Rodzinski repeated that a competition’s greatest asset was "a reputation of being lily white and crystal clear."
There is also talk of the Tchaikovsky competition promoting appearances by Cliburn medalists in Russia, and vice versa. Gergiev has already expressed an interest in performing with Tsujii, the 2009 Cliburn phenomenon. One more Fort Worth tie: Van Cliburn has signed on as the honorary chairman of the 2011 Tchaikovsky piano competition and will speak at the opening ceremonies in Moscow.
Such is the whirlwind that began for Rodzinski last April, with a prominent voice on the telephone line came "all of a sudden out of the blue," Rodzinski said.
People want to know when they go that they are going to have an equal opportunity to win. I know that’s what he will bring to the competition, and that will be amazing for them."
Glen Kwok,president, World Federation of International Music Competitions
If anyone can turn it around, it’s Richard."
Veda Kaplinsky,head of the Juilliard School piano department and recent Cliburn juror
I just felt a profound sense of appreciation for the work that I’ve been doing for the last quarter- century."
Richard RodzinskiTIM MADIGAN, 817-390-7544
DFW.com is pleased to be able to offer its users the opportunity to make comments and hold conversations online. However, the interactive nature of the internet makes it impractical for our staff to monitor each and every posting.
Since DFW.com does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted on our website. In addition, we remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not DFW.com.
If you find a comment offensive, clicking the exclamation icon will flag the comment for review by the administrators; we are counting on the good judgment of all our readers to help us.
