Ukrainian wins in Brussels, won’t shake hands

The Ukrainian violinist Dmytro Udovychenko won the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels shortly after midnight.The first prize is worth 25,000 Euros.

Second and third places went to Americans – Joshua Brown (20k) and Elli Choi(17k).

Udovychenko, 24, has previously won in Montreal and Singapore.

Spectators inform us that he went around shaking the hands of all the judges – except for the Russian, V Vadim Repin. Such is the current state of musical courtesy.

UPDATE: Udiovychenko’s supproters point out that he is from Kharkiv, where is parents are under Putin’s bombarment. Repin’s “Transsiberian Festival” in Novosibirsk has Putin as its president.

And here’s the picture.

Dmytro Udovychenko gets to play the ‘Huggins’ 1708 Stradivarius on a four-year loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.