The 2000 Hannover International Violin Competition moves into the final round with six participants. They are:
- Joseph Lin, born in 1978, citizen of the USA;
- Elina Vähälä, born in 1975, citizen of Finland;
- Baiba Skride, born in 1981, citizen of Latvia;
- Frank Huang, born in 1978, citizen of the USA;
- Andrei Bielow, born in 1981, citizen of Ukraine;
- Arabella Steinbacher, born in 1981, citizen of Germany;
The six remaining semifinalists also profit from their participation in Hannover. The international contacts they have been able to make as well as the concerts they have given before packed halls contribute to their long-term career development. In addition, each one of them is awarded a 2.000 DM scholarship and will be giving concerts in the »Competition in the Countryside« series in Celle, Osnabrück and Wolfenbüttel on November 15th at 8 p.m.
The competition now moves to the concert hall at the NDR Lower Saxony State Broadcasting Center of the Northern German Broadcasting Corporation. On Thursday and Friday of this week, the finalists will be playing concertos for violin and orchestra. Their programs will include Jean Sibelius Violin Concerto in d-minor, op. 47, Dimitri Schostakowitsch´s Violin Concerto in a-minor, op. 99, Johannes Brahms´s Violin Concerto in D-major, op. 77 and Peter Tchaikovsky´s Violin Concerto in D-major, op. 35. They will be accompanied by the NDR-Radio Philharmonic Orchestra of Hannover, conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier. The chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra is considered one of the finest conductors to come out of France in recent years.
The Hannover International Violin Competition has been presented since 1991 by the Foundation of Lower Saxony and its partners: The Hannover Academy of Music and Theater Arts, the Northern German Broadcasting Corporation and the Lower Saxony State Orchestra of Hannover. It is dedicated to Joseph Joachim. This year´s is its fourth edition.
Concert tickets for the finals on November 16th and 17th are available at Laporte (Windmühlenstraße, Hannover) or by telephone: +49-511-3 63 29 29. Tickets for the gala concert on November 18th are sold out.
For further information please consult www.violin-competition.de or call Katharina Pieczyk at Dievision Medienberatung (telephone +49-511-28 87 91-0).