Editorial: When a jury can’t make up its mind

The Joachim violin competition has a rotten record in producing winners.

Over 33 years, it has failed to deliver a world-conquering soloist. For several years, as we documented on slippedisc.com, the competition was dominated by two professor in favour of their students. Since the clean-up in 2018, it has struggled for world attention.

The best winners the competition has yielded are two outstanding concertmasters, Frank Huang (2000) and Robert Chen (1994).

The latest result is a new low.

Faced with two contenders of quite different merits, the jury threw up its hands and split the title. The audience had no trouble in deciding it preferred one over the other. What was so hard for the jury? Was someone rooting for a friend’s protege? Did they simply get tired and vote to go to bed?

A split result is a dereliction of jury duty. The administrator should have kept them locked in a room until a clearf result emerged.

The split outcome is bad for everyone. For the competition which emerges yet again without a credible result. For the jurors, who appear indecisive. And for the two winners who come away not with laurel wreaths but with a suggestion that they weren’t quite good enough to take the main prize.

There are no winners in Hanover.

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