Tuning in or turning off: performing emotion and building cosmopolitan solidarity in international music competitions

Abstract

This article suggests that international classical music competitions are becoming sites of the global cultural public sphere. Like post-traditional festivals, they have previously served as arenas where nations compete for supremacy. But as these events become more globalized, they create opportunities to foster cosmopolitan sociability and cultivate global values. Through a discourse analysis of media coverage and online commentary from a selected case, I examine how difference is constructed in the competition context and how these categories complicate attempts to relate musically across differences. This analysis highlights the central role of emotion in the process of cultural inclusion, both as a discursive trope in evaluations of musical authenticity and as a signifier of value justifying the incorporation of a wider range of people into the circle of great musicians.