MUSIC competitions have come in for a lot of stick over the years for turning musical performance into a spectator sport. Competition organisers have shown their concern by modifying their procedures. The Guardian Dublin International Piano Competition, for instance, did its bit by allowing virtually complete freedom in the repertoire played. And recently announced singing competitions in Israel and Austria have also managed to find fresh slants on the problems.

The Leonard Bernstein Jerusalem International Oratorio and Song Competition has managed to bring in more than a dozen major international musical "sponsoring institutions". These range from the Vienna and New York Philharmonics to the Sony Classical record company. The key distinction of the new competition, however, is that there will be "no ranking of winners, no limitation on the number of laureates". At US$25,000 per laureate that's a generous offer.

The Vienna based Das Schubert Lied International Competition is scheduled for February 1997 as part of the city's Schubert bicentenary celebrations. The novelty here is the make up of the juries. The first round will be judged by a panel of pianists, the second by a panel of music critics, the third by members of the audience. Elegibility requires your having "subscribed to the Lieder recital series continuously in either the Konzerthaus or the Musikverein from the season 1993/94 on" a Viennese version of power to the people! Chairing and voting on all of the juries will be the distinguished German mezzo soprano Brigitte Fassbaender. The new competition (which limits its repertoire to songs by Schubert) offers separate prizes to male and female singers, with the two top prizewinners getting just over £6,000 each.