A most embarrassing incident happened at this year Tchaikovsky Competition. The press release says: « Due to a gross error committed by an employee of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra Evgeny Svetlanov on June 25, 2019, before the Competition performance of An Tianxu, the musical scores by Piotr Tchaikovsky (1st Piano Concerto) and Sergei Rachmaninov (Paganini Variations) were arranged in a reverse order (on the conductor’s and the orchestra’s stands) which differed from the pattern requested by the participant. Therefore, the performance began with a failure. » Indeed, the young pianist was most confused about hearing another music from the orchestra than the one expected and had difficulties to adjust his playing.
By an unanimous decision of the Jury, Denis Matsuev, the Jury Chair in the Piano category, officially invited An Tianxu to re-play his program, yet the participant officially refused. After this blatant incident, the Administration of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra Evgeny Svetlanov decided to suspend the employee from work. This will be a small consolation to the screwed pianist.
