Competition of Pianists Ends on a Controversial Note

Officials at the first Rachmaninoff International Competition and Festival wanted to avoid controversy. But one landed in their laps anyway when, in announcing top honors Friday at Pasadena Civic Auditorium, the judges disqualified Alessio Cioni, 23, of Italy from the final round.

“With regret,” they declared in a statement, “it is the unanimous decision of the jury that Mr. Cioni’s lack of preparation in his performances in the final round was such that is it not warranted that he be considered a laureate finalist of this competition. He will remain, however, designated a formal semifinalist.”

There was more than a title involved. Each of the three non-medalist finalists received $10,000 (semifinalists, $2,000). First-place winner Evgeni Mikhailov, 29, of Russia, got $30,000, a Kawai concert grand piano and a concert date with the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra. Second-place winner Mizuka Kano, 23, of Japan, received $20,000. Both also will have a CD released by L.A.-based Pipeline Music, one of the sponsors. No third-place winner was awarded. (Finalist Ning An, 25, of the United States, won the $3,000 Audience Prize, announced at the awards ceremony and concert on Saturday.)

But the disqualification of Cioni, named an audience favorite in informal polls earlier in the two-week, 30-pianist contest, made rumors fly, tempers flare and conspiracy theories sprout.

Some saw an ominous preponderance of judges from Russia and former Eastern bloc countries. Some asked if Kawai’s sponsorship guaranteed a Japanese winner.

Not even the most stalwart fans of Cioni could claim that his playing in the final concerto round--especially Rachmaninoff’s Third--remotely approached the level he had reached earlier. Still many wondered why he had been so publicly rebuked.

“It was cruel and unnecessary, like punishing a child in public,” said a major pianist.

“Tonight I am an embarrassed citizen of this community,” one faithful attendee wrote in a widely circulated e-mail message.

“We can forgive lots of things on stage,” said jury co-chair, Nikolai Petrov, of Russia, Saturday. “An interpreter can be sick. He can be afraid of the public. He can forget. He can stop on stage. This time, [Cioni] was not prepared. He didn’t learn the concerto.”

Said Russian-born pianist and judge Vladimir Ashkenazy: “This decision was made based on a lot of information, not just because he played Rachmaninoff the way he played. The jury reminisced on the first two rounds. The decision was made with maturity.

“There was nothing else we could do,” he continued. “It would be really unfair if he got so much money just because he got to the finals.”

Cioni acknowledged he was ill-prepared for the final round. “I studied the [Rachmaninoff] concerto in a short time and never played it with an orchestra,” he said after the closing concert Saturday. “I don’t feel cheated. The decision of the jury is fantastic. Mikhailov is a wonderful pianist. I’m very happy. The level of the competition was very high. It was a good experience.”

“We feel very, very bad for this nice guy and someone with a great potential,” Mikhailov said through an interpreter. “But he was completely unprepared for the third round. Probably he didn’t expect to be there. It would have been much better if he said he were ill and didn’t participate in the round. It was the right decision of the jury, and a courageous decision.”

Regarding the missing third prize, U.S. juror Lucy Ishkanian said: “Most of us felt that the gap, the distance in the quality of playing between the second-prize winner was just too great to award a third prize. We wanted to keep the level of the competition rather high.”

Petrov said the matter was simpler: “We needed to get a two-thirds majority [of the 12-member jury]. We didn’t. We had four or five for one finalist, three for another. The question was over.”

The jury rules printed in the program stated that all marks given by the jury would be public. That will not happen, however.

“We decided there was really no reason to make them public,” said American co-chair Byron Janis. “Most competitions don’t.”

Cioni did have fans on the jury.

“In the first round, he played the Chopin Etude in A minor. It was stunning,” said U.S. juror Earl Wild. “It was so good, in my life I hadn’t heard it played so well. But playing concertos is another matter.

“He’s a very talented boy,” Wild continued. “This should be a wonderful lesson for him. If you’re in music, you have to become used to being criticized. He was up against people who knew the music perfectly. He didn’t. It’s unfortunate. All of us in the world have been criticized, sometimes very unfairly. If you have anything inside you that’s real, it should not even bother you.”