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Thursday, July 13, 2006

Besancon, France 1999-2001





I first visited Besancon, France in March of 1995 to conduct Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" as part of their international conducting competition. I participated in this competition three times, and each time out of over 200 candidates I was among the 20 to be accepted past the preliminary rounds.
Some of the other repertoire I conducted in the Besancon competition was: Bartok -Dance Suite, Divertimento, & Concerto for Orchestra, Copland - Appalachian Spring, Kodaly - Dances of Galantea, Milhaud - Le boef sur le toit, Roussel - The Spider's Feast, & Stravinsky - Petroushka.

Since I was already in Europe, I even participated in the competition there a few days after September 11, 2001. This was a very difficult task for me as I was the only American accepted that year, and I was very concerned about the recent attacks on our country. At least the reviewer wrote that I should have made it into a further round (click here).

1 comment:

PAUL MAUFFRAY said...

You'll see from this site, that I've done quite a bit of travelling, but without a doubt I can say that I found Besancon to be the most romantic city on earth! (grace a toi ln)