Posted by Jay Bertolet on July 04, 1999 at 06:55:58:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: which year? posted by Joe S. on July 04, 1999 at 01:12:44:
I heard that same thing about Tony Kniffen. I know a few of the "finalist" group of 9 that auditioned that day and they, as a group, told me individually that they felt Tony was the winner based on how everybody played. The story I heard was that all 9 played and then the committee called back 3 players, one of which was Tony. He must have played pretty well that day because he was in some pretty elite company. And all the finalists I talked to said that he seemed like the winner. No disrespect to Gene, another great player, but I'm sorry they didn't pick a winner that day. Looking at the list of 9, aside from a couple of inexperienced players (at the time) like Tony, it is hard to imagine that any one of those guys couldn't have done the job really well. In my mind, it is one of the only things the CSO has done wrong that I've heard about. Eliminating the competition aspect of auditions because the management is looking for a specific player (otherwise known as fixing) is both wrong and defeats the purpose of auditions. Most orchestra managements will tell you that it is okay if they get the player they want. But in the long run, it degrades the quality of an orchestra by shutting out the great young unknown talent. I certainly hope this isn't a trend that we'll see at all. My opinion for what its worth...