In Our View: Broaden its scale

April 25, 2008 02:31 pm

— One of the hallmarks of any community is the level of culture that it offers to its citizens.
Since 1987, the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition has served as a world-class showcase of some of the finest young pianists the from around the globe — an event that has brought international attention to both the university and Joplin itself.
Thirty-five talented pianists from around the world gathered for the 12th piano competition this week, competing for $46,000 in prize money and, for the grand-prize winner, a debut concert at Carnegie Hall.
Now that the event has come to a close, it’s time to look ahead to the future of the biennial competition.
During a recent interview, competition director Vivian Leon seemed hesitant to discuss the future of MSIPC — or at least her future role in it, given that her husband, Julio Leon, stepped down as university president earlier this year.
If she and her husband do not remain in the Joplin area, she said she hopes MSIPC will continue to make beautiful music for many years to come.
“I would love for them to find somebody really terrific to continue it,” she said.
We applaud her efforts over the last two decades, and hope that in that event, the competition’s planning committee will be able to find someone with the same level of enthusiasm and commitment to seeing MSIPC thrive.
But we also hope that the committee continues efforts to broaden the competition’s appeal to all residents of the Four-States Area.
Bringing programs to the local schools and having host families open their doors to the competitors is an excellent start, but there is still much work to be done when it comes to convincing the public at large that MSIPC is for more than just aficionados of classical music. It should be for lovers of music in all its forms and from all walks of life.