Tchaikovsky Competition expelled from WFIMC

The Tchaikovsky Competition, one of the world-renowned music competitions in the world, has been expelled from the World Federation of International Music Competitions, due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The WFIMC released a statement on Tuesday saying that in a vote following its Extraordinary General Assembly held on April 13, the World Federation of International Music Competitions decided with an overwhelming majority of member votes to exclude the International Tchaikovsky Competition with immediate effect.

It is the first time that the organization, founded in 1957, has excluded a member competition on political grounds. As such, the number of WFIMC competitions has been reduced to 116 from 117. In the vote, 90 members participated, with 80 in favor, two opposition votes and eight abstentions.

The Tchaikovsky Competition is known for producing world-class musicians such as Van Cliban, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mikhail Pletnev, Gidon Krember and Viktoria Mullova.

“Many laureates of the Tchaikovsky Competition are among the leading artists of today. However, in the face of Russia’s brutal war and humanitarian atrocities in Ukraine, the WFIMC as an apolitical organization cannot support or have as a member, a competition financed and used as a promotional tool by the Russian regime. While our first and foremost goal must always be the active support of young artists, and right now particularly Ukrainian artists, the WFIMC affirms its previous statement against blanket sanctions on all Russians and against the discrimination and exclusion of individual artists, based on their nationality,” added the organization.


gustav@donga.com