VC WEB BLOG | Mr. Didier Schnorhk on "What Music Events Need To Be Doing Right Now"

Geneva International Music Competition Secretary General offers his advice on what music event directors need to be doing right now to respond to the uncertainty of the COVID pandemic

Mr. Schnorhk shares with The Violin Channel his thoughts on how the music industry should proceed in these times:

We live in an unprecedented, abnormal and unexpected time - for which we were not ready.

We concert organizers, festival and competition directors, orchestras, and musicians  know how to deal with dramatic changes, illness, and natural hazards.

We know how to replace and postpone a concert, find a new artist, or change a date quite quickly and cleverly.

But, we were not prepared to deal with the longterm shutdown of the entire musical industry around the world – and there is still more challenge to come!

The first lesson we learned from the past few months is humility.

The world continues turning without us. You can listen to whatever music you like all day long and our young talents have learned how to use screens and media to be present.

Of course, we terribly miss the musical life we love; hearing the concerts, meeting people, being on stage, playing for an audience, etc.

And let's be honest, we still don’t know what we could replace all of this with.

Still, some certainties are beginning to surface.

In our efforts to make our organization survive this crisis and be present the day the music industry starts up again, we have learned that we should get rid of the dispensable things.

We have identified what's essential and focused on the real value of our organization:  the music, the honesty, and the sincerity of our artistic projects.

These values will always find their place, whatever the world may bring tomorrow.

Additionally, we learned that what worked in real life before the crisis, does not necessarily work on the internet and its social networks. 

To be present into the digital world, the music industry and its musicians must reinvent themselves.

This will take some time, but each of us in our own roles must contribute to this process.

The music competition’s role is as clear as ever. 

We must prepare the young talents we have selected and awarded with the tools they need to become artists of tomorrow.

We encourage them to be modern, genuine, versatile, profound, reactive, open, and curious about everything.

They must be prepared and ready to respond to any challenge, in all domains, when the next crisis comes!

-Didier Schnorhk

Applications are now open for the 2021 Geneva International Cello Competition – to be held in Geneva from the 23rd of October to the 5th of November, 2021