An international piano competition is aiming to tackle ‘male dominance’ by introducing new rules that favour female musicians.
The Leeds International Piano Competition has taken steps to give women a greater chance of winning, after announcing new judging rules for this year’s event.
Juries, who vote on the outcome of each round, have been instructed to consider giving female competitors priority in the event of a tie.
They have also been told that there should be a re-election at certain stages of the competition, when there is ‘a single gender outcome or when the ratio of women to men decreases significantly’.
The uproar came after competition CEO Fiona Sinclair announced earlier this year that organisers had been “forced to address the apparent gender imbalance at the event”, which saw only men compete in last year’s final.
An international piano competition aims to ‘tackle male dominance’ by introducing new rules to favour female musicians. Pictured is one of this year’s two female finalists in the competition – Junyan Chen
Khanh Nhi Luong, who hails from Vietnam, is also in the final of the event which takes place over the next two days at St George’s Hall in Bradford
Mrs Sinclair wrote in an article in The Guardian in March: ‘We are taking a broad approach to this year’s Leeds piano competition.
‘Through initiatives such as blind pre-selections, minimizing biographical details during all rounds, training on unconscious bias for jury members and targeted career support for aspiring pianists, we strive for a fairer platform.
“We also reviewed our voting procedures with a lawyer, even though there is no legislation that actually applies to competitions.”
The Leeds International Piano Competition is in full swing with the finals taking place over the next two days at St George’s Hall in Bradford.
The finalists include two female pianists: Junyan Chen, based in the UK, and Khanh Nhi Luong, from Vietnam, and three male participants: Jaeden Izik-Dzurko from Canada, Julian Miles Trevelyan from the UK and Kai-Min Chang from Taiwan.
The instructions for judges conducting this year’s competition were as follows: in the event of a tie between a male and female competitor during a round, “we ask the judge to consider putting her forward first.”
There are also three male finalists in the competition, including Canadian Jaeden Izik-Dzurko
Taiwan’s Kai-Min Chang also reached the final of this year’s competition
The rules also state that if there was “a single gender result or a result that significantly reduced the female-to-male ratio” during the second round and semi-finals, the jury would have conducted a revote.
It is unclear whether a similar scenario occurred during this year’s competition.
Announcing the new measures in February, the Leeds International Piano Competition said they had been introduced “to address the long-standing problem of male dominance in the piano world”.
This year, the judges also had to participate in an ‘Anti Bias Training’, which aims to eliminate both conscious and unconscious biases in order to promote a more equal environment for all participants.
The winner of the competition will receive £30,000, a debut recording with Warner Classics, a management deal with Askonas Holt and a number of international touring opportunities.
Second and third place will receive £18,000 and £12,000 respectively, plus a number of other benefits, while fourth and five will each receive £6,000.