Upbeat: First violinist

BENJAMIN SCHMID has won the pounds 6,000 first prize in the City of London Carl Flesch International Violin Competition. More than 100 players put themselves forward for the biennial competition this year, and 35 of them have been working their way through preliminary rounds since 8 July. The Austrian violinist's final-stage concerto was the Brahms, with Andrew Litton and the Philharmonia.