Baton fail: Besancon has no winner

In what is reported* to be the first time in seven decades, the Besancon conducting competition has no winner.

The jury decided that none of the finalists was worthy and sent the three of them away with ‘a special mention’ after they appeared in performances of a new work by Camille Pépin and the fifth symphony of Jean Sibelius.

The unhappy finalists were Chloé Dufresne (France, 29), Jiong-Jie Yin (China, 21) and Deun Lee (South Korea, 32). The public voted strongly for Chloe (pictured)

The dissenting jury was chaired by Paul Daniel and included the composer Pépin and London Southbank’s Gillian Moore.

Fails all round.

*UPDATE: Alan Paris reminds us that no prize was awarded in 2003, when Mathias Bamert chaired the jury. The same happened in 1966, 196, 1971 and 1973.

Recent winners have included Kazuki Yamada, Jonathon Heyward and Ben Glassberg.