Did I say anything could happen? The winner of the 16th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition is Yulianna Avdeeva, the fiery Russian who performed the E minor Concerto on Tuesday night. Audience favourite Ingolf Wunder shares joint second prize with Lukas Geniušas, Daniil Trifonov is third, Evgeni Bozhanov fourth, and François Dumont fifth. There is no sixth prize. Wunder won both the Concerto and Polonaise-Fantaisie prizes, Avdeeva the Sonata prize. Trifonov was awarded the Mazurka prize, Genušias the Polonaise prize.

First, we must congratulate Yulianna Avdeeva for her wonderful achievement. Three prizewinners’ concerts and two dates with the New York Philharmonic await her, perhaps a contract with a major label. But, her victory was a surprise. In the Philharmonic Hall, where the results were announced just before midnight, the atmosphere was most interesting: one of astonishment. Wunder had the popular vote and he was expected to win. This was clearly reflected in the crowd’s subdued reaction to Avdeeva’s victory, which can’t have been easy for her.

I am writing this shortly after the announcement, a few of hours after we heard the last three finalists, Lukas Geniušas, Hélène Tysman and François Dumont. Incidentally, Dumont, who played the Fazioli throughout the Competition, used the Steinway for the finals. There was no explanation offered – I wonder what happened?

But, to return to the results: rather than speculating about the Jury’s decision, I think, after a good night’s sleep, we should all go back to the Competition website http://konkurs.chopin.pl and review the winners’ performances, stage by stage, in order to gain some insight – with the benefit of hindsight, of course. And what do you think?