The semifinalists of the 2000 Hannover International Violin Competition were selected late Friday afternoon after two rounds of competition. The Chairman of the Jury, Richard Jakoby, announced the names of the twelve violinists chosen from a field of 38 competitors. Five women and seven men have reached the semifinals; one of them come from Germany. The semifinal round of the competition takes place at the Hannover Academy of Music and Theater Arts from November 12th to 14th. The semifinalists:
- Joseph Lin, born in 1978, a citizen of the USA;
- Elina Vähälä, born in 1975, a citizen of Finland;
- A-rah Shin, born in 1983, a citizen of Korea;
- Mikhail Ovrutsky, born in 1980, a citizen of the USA;
- Alexander Trostiansky, born in 1972, a citizen of Russia;
- Ning Kam, born in 1975, a citizen of Singapore;
- Baiba Skride, born in 1981, a citizen of Latvia;
- Sergey Ostrovsky, born in 1975, a citizen of Israel;
- Kyu-Young Kim, born in 1972, a citizen of the USA;
- Frank Huang, born in 1978, a citizen of the USA;
- Andrei Bielow, born in 1981, a citizen of Ukraine;
- Arabella Steinbacher, born in 1981, a citizen of Germany;
The repertory of the morning semifinal sessions is chosen for the most part by the violinists themselves. »The individual choice of the works to be performed makes the individual artist's personality even clearer,« stresses Professor Krzysztof Wegrzyn, Artistic Director of the competition. The evening session is devoted to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's work. The performers will be accompanied by the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Agnieszka Duczmal.
All twelve violinists will be performing a new work by the composer Vladimir Martynow, one of the leading members of the Russian musical avant-garde. The commissioned work, entitled »Versions of Twelve Episodes«, presents the performers a unique challenge. »Vladimir Martynow has created a work that can be performed in a number of different ways,« Professor Wegrzyn explained. »Each of the competitors will be playing his own version. So we may well be hearing twelve strikingly different pieces of music.«
After the three-day semifinal round, the jury will be making its next decision, choosing the competition's six finalists. The final round will be performed in the Main Concert Hall of the Northern German Broadcasting Corporation´s Lower Saxony center in Hannover.
Since 1991, the Hannover International Violin Competition has been presented triennially by the Foundation of Lower Saxony (Stiftung Niedersachsen). This is its fourth edition.
For further information please consult http://www.violin-competition.de or call Katharina Pieczyk at Dievision Medienberatung (telephone +49-511-28 87 91-0).