What’s the point of a competition if it won’t give first prize?

Over and over again, we see fortunes being spent on competitions that can’t reach a decision.

It happened in the violin jury of the last Tchaikovsky competition. It happened again last night in the flute section of the Concours Genève.

After performances by three young flautists who were ranked by leaders of their profession, watching at home on live broadcast, as ‘stunning’ and ‘outstanding’, the judges refused to award a first prize.

The audience voted for a 17 year-old Korean, Yubeen Kim.

The judges grudged him joint second prize with the Portuguese finalist, Adriana Ferreira.

What’s the point of that?

Now, the best the winners have to show for their efforts is ‘I was best in Geneva in a bad year’.

This has been a great year for new flute talent. And a very bad year for competitions.