Ukrainian wins in Brussels, won’t shake hands
NewsThe 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.
How about Jews and Germans? Would you like some quotations from Messrs. Putin, Medvedev, and Dugin so you can compare against Mein Kampf?
Well, Germans aren’t murdering Jews at the moment are they? No German today takes money directly from Hitler. The second World War is over, basically entire Germany has learnt its lesson. Meanwhile Putin is bombing civilians and Repin is taking Putins blood-stained money. I won’t judge Repin nor Udovychenko, but I can definitely understand the latter’s action.
Entire of Western Germany, definitely. Well, mostly definitely.
You seem to be living 30 years in the past. There is no Western or Eastern (GDR) Germany any more.
However, the right wing parties certainly have an up in the eastern states if that is what you meant.
That utter disrespect for Queen Mathilde who invited Repin to sit on the jury.
He should have been on his knees for every judge because his playing is not close to any of the other finalists. Intonation, tonal strength, phrasing—he’ll be remembered for his disrespect towards the hands that feed him, and forgotten for his mediocre artistry (or maybe remembered for that, precisely).
It took a dozen and a half jurors to agree that he’s the first prize? This is what happens: the least interesting winner offends the fewest judges. Had he been any nationality one could doubt he’d have gotten past the first round
I don’t agree. His semi-finals were terrific, and he also demonstrated a deep understanding of the music in his concerto, conveying a personal message through his playing. While there were some minor issues with intonation, they are more than forgiven when played with such artistry. Additionally, it’s important to note that the musician was not impolite to Repin, despite not shaking his hand. Instead, he showed respect by bowing to him.
I totally agree with you, that one has to respect his decision, not to shake hands. This has been a terribly shocking and sad moment in this Competition, but he is hardly to blame for the terrible state of humanity nowadays. As sad as it is, I think he is right in showing us, that there is no unpolitical place in the world at the moment.
Let’s imagine for s moment that the Russian composer Shostakovich would be present there. Would he refuse him a shakehand either?
What he is to blame for though is the state of his violin playing. His intonation issues are rather major than minor. His shake in his bow arm reminds me of Menuhin‘s worst days. Because of these insecurities in both hands he has nearly no tone control, so he misses so many opportunities to convey his ideas or emotions by sound, which to me is still the main objective of musical art. Yes, there are moments, when his phrasing is exceptional. But he was by far not the only candidate with ingenious phrasing in this competition.
Very correct. He should never have been in the first six. I have myself been in this Jury in 1985, and followed all the QE competitions since 1958. ( I was 7th in ’71) There have been so many fabulous violinists since then, and he surely is not up to their level.
The Mozart D major Violin Concerto was not worthy of such a competition.
Many people liked how he moved his eyebrows in the Mozart—his fans. However, I closed my eyelids and heard a typical graduate degree student playing Mozart
For me his Ysaye in the second round was even more disturbing, especially with Ysaye being the founder of the competition.
For me it seemed as if in the finals the competition took the unfortunate turn to become a competition about who could play the most destructive Shostakovich, thus loosing the focus on finding the best violinist.
What utterly pathetic nonsense. No harm in criticizing a winner, but when you produce such ridiculous hyperbole you only make a fool of yourself. I have followed the entire competition from the first round, in the company of a few professional musicians. Udovychenko convinced us from the start and only grew throughout the competition.
I also talked to executives of the competition and I can assure you that they didn’t feel disrespected in the least. On the contrary, they felt respect for Udovychenko’s dilemma and the way he solved it: not shaking hands, but bowing respectfully.
Jerry, please affirm Your objective right to a fair judgment in the field of professional violin art. Are You a violinist? If yes, then indicate how one can hear your brilliant interpretations of violin works, at a level corresponding to the competition. Otherwise, I advise You to keep quiet…
And, sorry to say but in current climate – being Ukrainan in any event is almost a can’t fail ticket.
The competition was of an incredibly high level. I was particularly impressed by Kevin Zhu’s magnificent performance in the semi-finals. However, I can understand why the judges chose Udovychenko as the winner. As for Udovychenko’s decision not to shake hands with Vadim Repin, at first I thought it was impolite. But upon closer inspection, I realized that Udovychenko showed the utmost respect to Repin by bowing to him instead of ignoring him. His gesture demonstrated that he respected Repin as an artist, but condemned Russia.
Let’s assume a Jewish musician from Poland wins a competition in Stockholm in 1942, and they refuse to shake hands with the German jury member. Should we discuss this as a matter of lack of courtesy?
The Sweeds would never risk relations with Germany in such a manner – and no Jew would have been allowed in. And no German would dare serve in a jury bound to listen to a Jew.
Sweden was neutral during WW II.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden_and_the_Holocaust
Exactly what I meant but formulated rather clumsily.
Russians fight neo-Nazi in Ukraine, they never supported Nazism, since Russia is a multi-ethnic state with numerous autonomies
Autonomies that exist only on paper. Just try to exercise some autonomy under Putin.
Where can I get the stuff you’re smoking?
I didn’t notice this as it was happening but, I respect and admire Dmytro’s unwillingness to shake hands with Mr. Repin. It was an understandable gesture from Ukrainian violinist Dmytro Udovychenko. I would not have shook his hands either, there’s just too much at play.
Queen Mathilde invited Mr. Repin to serve on the jury, so that was disrespectful towards the Belgian Royalty.
Kremlin sockpuppet alert.
Pathetic display. What a pity that there weren’t any Palestinians to give the first prize to!
Understand your comment. The winner should have been the violinist, Zhu. Now we understand further
Your irrelevant is showing!
There are many unbelievable things which happened.
Firstly, the choice of winners was perplexing and disappointing, to say the least.
Then was the gesture of the 1st prize Ukrainian not shaking hands to a violin legend, SOLELY due to his nationality.
And although it was not covered in this post, any comments which mentioned the lack of musicianship or the jury’s decision were DELETED from the official competition social media!!!
Scandalous behaviour from all parties.
Last night, the Queen Elisabeth competition lost its reputation.
Solely to the fact that he represents a fascist state
Udovichenko actually represents the neo-Nazi white suprematist state led by a military dictator who cancelled elections.
How can you call Ukraine a neo-Nazi state, while Zelensky is jewish himself? I guess you’re a Russian troll.
Modern Ukrainian Nazism is exclusively anti-Russian.
How do you know his choice was due to Repin’s nationality and not his political stance? He is a Putin loyalist as reported previously on this website.
I enjoyed the playing despite the lost focus in the third movement of Shostakovich, but – if you are going to refuse handshake with Vadim Repin in the Prize ceremony because he is Russian, why play Shostakovich concerto in the most decisive moments of your competitions? (Queen Elis, and Montreal). The political undertones really ruined it for me. If you are going to take a stance, stay away from Russian juror competitions and composers altogether, not just avoid a mere congratulatory handshake, coming from a Russian legend Repin, just like Shostakovich was.
Hate to break it to you, but Shostakovich’s music isn’t exactly apolitical, and unlike Repin, he wasn’t too keen on dictators
Hate to break it to you, but Shostakovich’s music isn’t exactly apolitical, and unlike Repin, he wasn’t too keen on dictators
It is very positive, I think, that this violinist is NOT boycotting Russian culture–Shostakovich, etc.–as some Ukranians misguidedly advocate–while also making a gesture–bowing but not shaking hands–regarding the horror of the current conflict.
Mixing music with politics is disgusting.
You do realise that Shostakovich wrote this as a concerto against Stalin? It was even forbidden by the Russian administration to be performed. The piece was specifically written for Ukrainian violinist David Oistrakh. So there are a lot of reasons for Udovychenko to perform this piece.
Besides that, Udovychenko acted like a gentleman, instead of shaking hands, he bowed to Repin. Not condemning the person, but the country Russia.
David Oistrakh was an Odessa Jew residing in Moscow, Arbat community.
Funny that “politics”is being mentioned where as we are talking about murder of the Ukrainians here. Nothing political about invading a democratic country. If Repin ears in Putin’s hand, he should not be juror in the first place. Talent is not everything….
Repin was invited by Queen Mathidle and this outrageous behavior by Udovichenko was an insult to the Belgian royalty.
You can’t be serious. Repin vs DSCH?
Because Shostakovich is not Repin is not Berezovsky is not Bashmet is not Gergiev
You nailed it: why picking the Russian composer Shostakovich? Why not pick Brahms or Sibelius?
Was Repin there as a political envoy or a judge in a violin competition?
All this tells me is that there’s yet another musician who thinks their importance and sphere of influence is much bigger than the person in front of them. Who would have thought it?
Mixing music with politics is disgusting anyway.
I suppose he could not have won the first prize unless all jury members, including the Russian, gave him a very high score.
I am so tired of the argument that art and politics are worlds apart. An aggressive fascist state and it’s representatives need to be rebuked at every turn.
He did shake Sitkovetsky who is also Russian. Sign of complete disrespect toward Repin, and the competition. My vote was definitely with neither of the first 2…
Sitkovetsky has taken stance from the Russian aggression publicly, so it is not strange for Udovychenko to shake hands with him. And Sitkovetsky’s father comes from Kyiv.
For me, it was either Kevin Zhu or Udovychenko.
He may be forgiveness for being gauche and high-minded at age 24. Even if, as I suspect, the matter was discussed and agreed on beforehand.
It is unbelievable that representatives of a fascist state are still allowed in the jury…
I did not see any Ukrainians on the jury.
It is worth adding that Vladimir Putin, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, awarded Vadim Repin the title of People’s Artist of Russia in the midst of the war in Ukraine in April 2022. Violinist Vadim Repin is just as much a part of Russian cultural propaganda as his wife, ballerina Svetlana Zakharova. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/05/arts/music/russian-artists-putin.html
No patience with those who mix music and politics. And, no, I would not shake hands with a vegan or a homosexual; but that is just personal. Not sure I’d shake hands with an Israeli, either, especially if he wore a kipper on his head.
What an utterly disgusting and hypocrite comment.
Can’t blame him actually.
There is no contradiction in an Ukrainian violinist playing the Soviet composer Shostakovich 1st violin concerto. It has clear Jewish allusions, especially in the 2nd movement and cadenza. It was written as music of protest in 1948 against Stalin’s anti-Semitic campaign and could not be performed till 1955 by David Oistrakh, two years after Stalin’s death.
As to the bowing to Repin instead of shaking his hand… Unfortunately, Repin has become a Putin’s collaborator. Just recall the treatment of Nazi collaborators (Furtwengler etc.) They were shunned by the most of musical world. Repin was very lucky to be invited to sit in the jury at all.
Yes, quite!
Kevin Zhu the best!! What a shame! He is clearly standing out from all the others, throughout all the rounds a top class soloist! What a joke to hear the results, this is madness!
POLITICS OUT OF MUSIC!
For Jerry Feinsteen&Co:
Please affirm your objective right to a fair judgment in the field of professional violin art. Are you a violinists? If yes, then indicate how one can hear your brilliant interpretations of violin works, at a level corresponding to the competition. Otherwise, I advise you to keep quiet…
One does not have to be a violinist, or a superior one to the violinist being discussed, to express an opinion. This is a public forum. You can disagree or not, but censuring seems a bit arrogant.
To the anonymous GUEST:
your remark about the lack of confidence in hands (obviously for the objective reason of excitement) in this situation looks like a bright compliment, emphasizing the outstanding merits of Udovichenko’s performance. compensating for this “shortcoming”.
I very much wish for him that his shaking bow arm and his insecure intonation were due to once in a lifetime excitement. But mostly in a violinist these are signs of much bigger problems, which have destroyed many bright hopefuls in the past. Bomsori Kim, a seasoned competitor in all the big violin competitions, says about starting a career after winning, that it becomes so much harder afterwards, because unlike in competitions you get only one chance to get reinvited.
I think that at this point in his development he needs time to concentrate on solving his issues instead of rising the pressure on him until breaking point.
I guess that is, what many of the protestors to this jury decision feel. The winner has to have the whole package to start out as a professional soloist now not in an unforeseeable future.
For Howard Roark
This is another example of unfair criticism, this time directed at the most charming 2nd concerto of young Mozart. In what ways do you think he is losing to 4th and 5th? In technical difficulty? Let it be known to you that performing a simple piece of music at the highest level of expressiveness is the pinnacle of performance art. Perhaps this understanding is not available to your type of public.
And the highest technical level of Udovichenko was fully proven within the framework of the competition program.
People say “oh we want peace”….well guess what, the Russians were trying to shake his hand! But he was the one who refused.
It’s stupid because the Russian judges have literally nothing to do with what’s going on, and as far as I know have never publicly supported it. So that’s one way to keep the two countries at odds even more.
The judges have everything to do with what is going on. You don’t shake hands with people like that.
Dude they are musicians judging a competition. They are Russian citizens who have nothing to do with Putins decisions and the war.
Yeah, but it’s not only about shaking hands with Repin, yeah, he’s good, but not enough to be even in the top 6, top 3 were robbed, won’t comment about his ‘clear’ sound?
Listen again, 1st and 2nd places when there was Kevin, Ruslan, Hana?
His shostakovich was horrible! And his other two rounds were just as bad if not worse. Specially his paganini caprice in the 1st round His Ysaye and mozart in the semifinals. Sloppy out of tune horrible tone etc what a joke of a competition! They only gave him 1st prize for being Ukrainian. Every other finalist played way better than him.
I was actually thinking that they gave him first prize just because he’s Ukranian. I’m a pianist and used to aspire to win the Queen Elizabeth, but now I’m not so sure it’s worth it after this fiasco.
If Dmytro is averse to everything Russian, I wonder why did he then pick a concerto composed by the Russian composer Shostakovich?
Because Shostakovich wrote this as a concerto against Stalin. This work was forbidden by the Russian administration and dedicated to the Ukranian David Oistrakh. A lot of reasons to play this concerto.
If David Oistrakh was Ukrainian, then Alfred Rosenberg was Estonian.
I cannot agree more. The funny thing is that he seems to have been living in Germany most of his life and now he remembered he comes from Ukraine, just to get profit in competitions. It is a shame for the ukrainian people:(
Ugly for a young artist that wants to make a career. There is no excuse for such behaviour and he should apologise. Moreover, he wasn’t even the best overall…
He didn’t ignore Repin, but bowed in a polite manner. How would you feel against somebody from a country that is ferociously attacking yours?
I thought Kevin Zhu and Udovchenko both are marvellous artists, I was rooting for both of them.
Reply to a grinning Russian representative of a country murdering, raping, torturing, destroying Ukrainian towns? Musical niceties can’t cover this kind of thing up.
Have the juries forgotten how the other violinists played in the previous days? They gave the first and second paragraph prizes to the two who played on the last day, but there were much better players other than these two.
That was a sign of utter disrespect for Queen Mathilda in the first place, who invited Vadim Repin to sit on the just as an amazing violinist.
No courtesy owing to a representative of a country murdering, raping, pillaging, destroying houses and towns. Quite right!
He is right to refuse
Cool your jets, folks! Can any of you name the last 5 first-prize winners of this competition??? I rest my case.
If Udovichenko shook hands with Repin he won’t be able to return to Ukraine and his parents in Kharkov will be in trouble.
In April 2022 (after the Russian invasion of Ukraine), Vadim Repin received the People’s Artist of Russia award from Vladimir Putin, and he is still the Artistic director of the government-supported Transsiberian Arts Festival.
His wife, the Ukranian-born ballerina Svetlana Zakharova, is a member of Putin’s United Russia party in the Russian parliament and has been a vocal supporter of Putin since the invasion of the Crimea.
Of course, many artists left Fascist countries in the late thirties (Toscanini, Fritz Lang, Brecht, …) but it is not for us to demand such courage in others or to expect Russian creative or performing artists to stick their head above the parapet and come out publicly against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, by carrying on his association with the Transsiberian Arts Festival, Repin signals tacit support for what the Russian government is doing, as does his wife’s continued active cheerleading.
In my opinion, the young Ukrainian violinist exhibited perfectly good manners as well as courage, bowing towards Repin. People who criticize him for not taking the easy option and shaking hands forget that a photograph of the hand-shake possibly published in Ukrainian newspapers could then lead him being accused of being motivated solely by personal ambition and providing succour to the enemy.