don’t shoot the pianist
he is doing the best he can

Tickets for the thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition have been released.

So, Mayuko Kamio won the Tchaikovsky competition’s violin section, and nobody I know seems terribly surprised.

And it’s not because she played miles ahead of her competition, although I happen to think she played exceptionally well. No, it’s more of the usual: Kamio’s teacher is the eminent Zakhar Bron, who happened to be on the jury. Toyota, a Japanese company, is the competition’s main sponsor. Of course Kamio “won”. If you looked at YouTube, you’d think Kamio was the most unpopular winner in the competition’s history.
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