The Hunger Games of Violin at Carnegie

Hall: The Story of a Juilliard Violinist

Concertmasters Broken
Bow

by David Drake

In any competition there is only one underlying mantra: Winning. We saw this beautifully played out
at Carnegie Recital Hall (Weill Hall) last January 11th during the final round of the Violin
Competition, called Getting to Carnegie, in which four top violinists from the best conservatories in
the world went on stage. Unlike other classical music competitions, there was no jury. Instead, it
was up to the audience to decide the winner.

To apply for the competition, the violinists submitted the YouTube links of their best work to the
contest organizer. Four finalists were chosen online as violinists from around the globe uploaded
their best work on YouTube. The netizens selected the best from them by evaluating their two video
recordings. The first was a freely chosen 35 minute recording for either solo violin or violin and
piano, from the standard classical violin repertoire. The second is a required sonata movement to
be performed either solo or with the preferred piano accompaniment.

Julian Gargiulo
The brainchild of pianist/composer extraordinaire Julian Gargiulo, who jokingly refers to it as The
Hunger Games of violin, with a different kind of bow, this is Americas Got Talent meets Carnegie
Hall. But what happens when a confluence of external factors (more commonly referred to as life)
changes the outcome of the game?

Julian organized this competition born out of a desire to make classical music be known and
appreciated by more people. He remarked, I just had no idea it would be so successful. The
tickets to the January 11th concert at Carnegie were sold out quickly. The four finalists each had to
perform one movement of Julians four-movement Sonata for Violin and Piano, thus making this
the U.S. premiere of the work, albeit a very unusual one.

Nun Melikian (Moscow Conservatory), Margarita Krein (Manhattan School of Music), Carter
Coleman (Cleveland Institute of Music), and Haeji Kim (Juilliard School of Music) took to the stage
one by one. The performances were spellbinding. Such concentration. Such complete immersion in
the music. Such different musical and onstage personalities. After each performer played, they were
then introduced to the audience, who got a chance to interact with them briefly. Julians signature
style of presentation, something between Saturday Night Live and a lecture recital, helped the
somewhat nervous players to relax and the audience to start to converse, resulting in an interesting
mix of serious and playful.

While the votes were being tallied up, the four violinists were invited back to the stage for what
seemed more like a talk-show than a concert. Im finally getting to fulfill my dream of being a talkshow host, Julian quipped. The audience seemed genuinely pleased to get a chance to interact with
the young musicians.

In the end, it was the Korean violinist from Juilliard, who, by just four votes, prevailed over the
Armenian from the Moscow State Conservatory. The audience was excited. The artists were thrilled.
After all, they had just performed at Carnegie Hall. Haeji was ecstatic, hugging Julian saying, I
cant believe I won! Her prize, to fly to the Virgin Islands, leaving sub-zero New York for the Water
Island Music Festival that will take place January 1618, 2015. She would be the featured violinist,
performing the entire Sonata as well as other works.

Details were finalized. Plane tickets purchased. Repertoire discussed. The following day Julian
received a phone call from the Deans office at Juilliard. The tone was ominous. Haeji had not gone
through the proper channels, did not get the required approval in advance from the school, and
thus was not at liberty to just pack up and go. This situation must have happened in the past
especially in a school such as Juilliard and in the demanding world of classical music in general. The
whole concept of the lucky break is based on the unexpected happening. Surely Juilliard must
take this into account? Apparently Haeji was free to go if she wanted, but in exchange she could
expect to be stripped of her concertmaster status in the orchestra, receive a very low grade, and
very likely, will not graduate. Was she really being given a choice?

The four violinists probably all deserved to win. A few people remarked that the names of the
schools should have been omitted, as this information may have influenced some peoples vote.
Ironically, in this case, it was the very school which nullified her victory. Who is to say what the
long-lasting positive or negative effects will be. However, one thing is for sure: The audience voted
for Haeji, but life instead chose Nun.

Note: This article appeared on The SohoLoft with this linkhttp://thesoholoft.com/the-hungergames-of-violin-at-carnegie-hall-the-story-of-a-juilliard-violinist-concertmasters-broken-bow-bydavid-drake/ on Feb 11, 2015.

David Drake is an early-stage equity expert and the founder and chairman of New YorkbasedVictoria Global with divisions LDJ Capital, a family office and private equity advisory firm,
and The Soho Loft Media GroupThe Voice of Capital Formationa global financial media company
involved in Corporate Communications, Publications, and Conferences. You can reach him directly
at David@LDJCapital.com.