The third edition of the Orchestra's Conductor Competition that ended on the 2^nd of May, is a conducting competition with a unique concept: the winners are chosen by the members of the orchestra being conducted. This year, the competition took place at the Oradea Philharmonic - details from the competition chairman, conductor Cristian Oroșanu.

First of all, I'd like to say a few words about the winners of this edition.

This year there were three winners - by far. First prize went to a participant from Indonesia, second prize to a Chinese woman living in America and third prize to a Frenchman, half Tunisian, half Japanese. Somehow people came from all over the world to take part in this competition. That's how they got there, three winners from pretty far away.

The concept, I suppose, appealed to them, in fact, the winners are selected by members of the orchestra. How did you arrive at this formula?

From my experiences, both as a conductor-competitor when I was younger, and later on in the committees of international conducting competitions, I noticed that often the opinion of the orchestra does not correspond to the opinion of the jury; not because I have anything against the opinion of the jury, but it is something else, that is, the musicians in the orchestra look at the conductors at the music stand with different eyes. They often have different choices. I've found it very interesting to observe this over time. I've been thinking for a long time about doing a competition where there is no longer an external jury, but the orchestra is actually the jury, and I did it three years ago for the first time. It's more successful than I expected. Now we've come to the third edition, which has just finished in Oradea, which you're asking me about, and we're planning the next one in Bucharest in May 2025.

The third edition took place at Filamonica in Oradea. What was the reaction of the members of the orchestra when you proposed this idea and how did the members of the orchestras in the previous editions react?

At first, the orchestra is quite surprised, as there is no such concept in the world as a conducting competition, everyone is a bit confused at first. I don't understand how they could give some notes and choose the winners of a competition for the conductors who will surely come to conduct them in the following seasons, but then they get caught up in the game with pleasure and responsibility. On the app I developed specifically for this they vote, and this year their opinions really matched my opinions a lot. I, of course, don't interfere at all with the outcome, nor do I have any influence on the musicians in the orchestra. I'm just the organiser and I observe from afar what happens and it's very interesting.

You, as chairman of the competition, abstain from voting, but over the years you have had different opinions from the orchestra members?

Yes, it happened even in the first edition. My opinion was almost completely different from the opinion of the musicians in the orchestra. Of course, the result was different from what I would have expected, but I was happy about that, because that's the beauty of the concept. The musicians chose, the musicians will spend a week or two with the winners of the competition in the next seasons. I think it's very fair to let them have that choice, according to the concept we have created.

You have also organised a feedback round in the quintet round. I would like to know how this initiative was received by the contestants?

Very well. In the first edition I didn't have the idea to do this feedback session, but many competitors asked the musicians for their opinion and that gave me the idea to organize even for two hours, for example, this year it lasted more than two hours and it is very appreciated, especially by young conductors, some of them maybe students, some maybe even beginners. Unlike previous years where I didn't mark anything, I didn't get involved in this session, this year I marked myself, without making it public that I could also give them feedback. They came to me with great pleasure. A lot of conductors also ask me for a conducting masterclass, which I'm trying to organise from the next edition onwards, in the next two days after the competition finals. I think this is something that will be appreciated and a novelty from the 4th edition onwards.

I deliberately organise things in such a way that there is as democratic and open an interaction as possible between the members of the orchestra and the conductors who apply. There is another action that I like very much: after the final concert I organize a meal, a kind of cocktail, for everybody, the whole orchestra, of course whoever wants to, and all the members of the competition who will have stayed until the end of the competition, even if they have not entered the advanced stages, are all invited and a kind of free discussion is created between the competitors and the members of the orchestra. I think it's a nice thing and it's appreciated... and it is appreciated, both by the competitors and the musicians of the orchestra.

You should know that a jury made up of professional conductors from experienced grandmasters looks in a more technical way, I would say, at the way the conductors present themselves, or, the orchestra has a more soulful and more direct way. The orchestra can tell after a few minutes of being present, they don't even need two or three minutes to understand that the one in front is a real leader or not. That's why I also called it "Democratic Competition", because there is no room for any kind of arrangement, any kind of bias, it's simply the democratic opinion of the musicians in the orchestra. Of course I didn't invent the wheel, I mean there are still orchestras in the world that choose their permanent conductors, for example, or even guest conductors and they choose them by open vote. There is another orchestra in Berlin that has this interaction between the musicians playing and the conductors in front, but this kind of project has never been organised in the world as a real conducting competition. This is the real novelty that I am bringing to Romania, and of course abroad, because I intend to export this idea to any other orchestra in the world that agrees with my concept and wants to collaborate.

Every time I have found it appropriate to invite other managers to the finals of the competition, five or even seven from other orchestras in the country, this year even from abroad I invited three, who are free to choose or not from among the winners that the orchestra has chosen. To my surprise, this year in Oradea, all the managers who came from abroad intend to invite at least the First Prize winner. We'll see if this materializes in all places, but anyway I'm happy to connect the winners with various cultural institutions in Romania and abroad.