JEJU INTERNATIONAL BRASS COMPETITION 2023
a compilation of posts
August 6, 2023
The 2023 Jeju International Brass Competition at the 제주국제관악제 Jeju International Wind Ensemble Festival features 28 jurors, screenshot from their website here. None of these people use she/her or non-binary pronouns in their bios on the website. The competition has just gotten started this weekend.
Here is the jury online: http://jejuibc.org/english/judge/
Of the 30 required works in this competition, zero are by a woman or other gender-marginalized person.
Have a look at the jury. A lot of these guys are involved in exclusive events elsewhere. You often see the same repeat offenders.
We need more from these Big Fancy Men. We need them to insist upon the inclusion of others. Please note that this jury includes the president of the International Trombone Association.
August 10, 2023
August 12, 2023
August 13, 2023
August 13, 2023
August 16, 2023
August 17, 2023
August 19, 2023
August 19, 2023
BEHAVE
This is the message that is bestowed upon women in classical music from the very beginning. It is taught silently: through the music we study versus the music we chose to ignore; by teaching young women to navigate sexual harassment and assault silently from an early age in order to be “liked” and therefore hired; and by careful selection of our idols--by promoting only men’s work as “excellent” and worthy of worship, as well as over-representing them on juries, concerts, faculties, invited events, awards, and festivals at the expense of all others.
The message is also delivered explicitly. This past week has been an ugly one for the brass and clarinet communities online. Even if you don’t play a brass instrument, or a clarinet, or even if you aren’t a musician at all, you should be paying attention. This is a threat to women everywhere.
The European Clarinet Association has just paused its Facebook page, after throwing numerous women out and blocking them (including me), going so far even as to refund membership fees of the clarinetist women who had the audacity to say the organization had the responsibility to adopt a DEI policy, improve its terrible language, and stop promoting all-male events. They blocked and censored comments calling for equality, but at the same time, allowed one BFM clarinetist whose website says he has worked at the Juilliard School to post a picture of himself with his finger on the trigger of a very large gun telling people quoting him to “leave a nightlight on,” as well as many other wildly inappropriate comments. This double-standard for what is acceptable for women to say (“where are the women?” is not acceptable) and what is acceptable for men to say (calling women hemorrhoids, dogs, cows, hysterical, bitches, and making threats) speaks louder than anything else. These men all claim they have been “attacked.” And “attack” in this case has never involved any sort of threat, and certainly never any violence, but rather simple insistence that other people be included. Because of the place they feel women should occupy, this comes off as incredibly audacious and threatening, and this is why these very fragile men describe this as an “attack.”
In all of this, these men insist they are not biased against anyone. “Love first.” “Music first.” “Quality first.” They seem to be unaware that “music” and “quality” are subjective. If women are never truly included or given opportunity to succeed and grow—and the benefit of the doubt that these men have received time and time again—“music” and “quality” will continue to exclude marginalized people for further generations.
Perhaps most amazing in all of this clarinet mess is that virtually no Big Fancy Men have spoken in favor, either outright or in writing, in support of women and their inclusion. I wonder what they are afraid of. If I’ve missed someone, please let me know.
Also this week, a large, international brass competition, the 2023 Jeju International Brass Competition, just came to a close. There were 28 jurors for this competition, and every single one was a man. In the three solo genres, trumpet, horn, and tenor trombone, all the finalists selected by these all-male juries were not surprisingly also all men. So, all the winners were men, too, despite numerous women entering the competition and being admitted to initial rounds.
Comments on the Big Fancy Men jurors’ pages asking why there were no women jurors have been entirely ignored. This, I suppose, is far better than physical threats in response, or better than deletion and blocking (like the European Clarinet Association.) But the silence from these Big Fancy Men (Jacques Mauger, who still claims to be President of the International Trombone Association on his Facebook page, and Jens Lindemann, international trumpet star) about this topic is deafening. They share congratulatory photos of the all-male juries but have no words to say about why there were no women. These men are incentivized to stay silent and hope the “problem” goes away. They routinely take place in events which exclude women, and they routinely organize them as well. The idea of including women seems to be a direct threat to their supremacy and earning potential.
One of these Big Fancy Men from the Jeju Competition, Luca Benucci, wrote a statement on Facebook early this morning about how he has been “attacked” by women. He tagged me and Abbie Conant in his post. Again, from our end, there were no threats or violence, only statements about the exclusion of women and quotes of the men. Pointing out the obvious is deeply offensive, and I believe these men truly feel it as an attack. Benucci said he believes in love and angels (who are sexless), and that in his Italian Brass Week, which rostered 18 men faculty members and 0 women this year, everything is okay because the support staff is majority female. It’s a statement which rings similar to Jacques Mauger’s post about women accompanists at the Jeju competition: instead of addressing the lack of women in prominent positions of power, they point to women in supporting roles and praise them. This, women, is where you should be. And don’t forget: behave and don’t be rude or negative.
I am told that circa-2000, the Italian Brass Week had a t-shirt made with a woman’s body and “ASS” emphasized from “brass.” I’ve been told that these photos have been purged from the internet but would be very interested in acquiring a photo, should one find itself in my DMs. Imagine the position of any woman participating in that festival: wear the t-shirt? Say something and be hated? Ignore and let it eat your insides?
As the 2023 Jeju International Trumpet Competition came to a close, the juror Jens Lindemann took to Facebook with a list of “tough love” tips for winning solo competitions. At the time I am writing this, this post has been shared 157 times. He fails to address how a woman or other gender-marginalized person could possibly win a subjective competition in the context of an all-male jury, especially one which ignores questions about representation. But people share away, amplifying his message of playing from memory, smiling, or without water bottles, while failing to note the absence of women.
Until Luca Benucci tagged me and Abbie this morning describing his “attack," I had not connected his no-woman Italian Brass Week in Italy with the no-woman-juror 2023 Jeju International Brass Competition in Korea. Then, I saw a post with Benucci announcing Lindemann (both Jeju jurors) as the new president of the Italian Brass Week. Make no mistake: these men benefit from the missing women.
Back to double-standards. Imagine if any one of these men said what I, or Abbie, or any of the Clarinet Women said. They would be lauded. They would have news articles about how wonderful they are. “Big Fancy Man insists upon Inclusion of Women.” “BFM is Great Advocate of Women.” “BFM Declines to be on Jury until they enter 21st Century.” All genders would hail and love them. They wouldn’t be called bitches and hemorrhoids. Yet instead, they choose to be silent. We need better allies.
August 22, 2023
From the DMs:
"A couple years ago Alex Freund, another JEJU trumpet juror, posted a pdf poster of his guests at his studio at a university in Georgia. 4 years, 30 guests, no women. When I asked about it he sent a long message about how it was about bringing in his friends, not politics, and he doesn’t know many women of the same caliber and they weren’t available. How he doesn’t buy into the “DEI bullshit.” It’s so frustrating to see him tagging along with Jens everywhere."
From me: They benefit and profit from the lack of women. They are incentivized to stay silent about their BoysClub events and keep inviting their man friends.
September 5, 2023
