36 young violinists from around the globe have been invited to participate in this year’s Hannover International Violin Competition. From October 1st – 14th, they will be competing for cash awards of over 80,000 Euros ($100,000), concert appearances and DVD and CD productions. The Foundation of Lower Saxony (Stiftung Niedersachsen), which is presenting the competition for the sixth time, announced the Applications Jury’s decisions today in Hannover.
A total of 92 candidates from 29 countries applied for one of the coveted invitations. For the first time, video or DVD recordings submitted by the candidates played a major role in the selection process. Professor Krzysztof Wegrzyn, initiator and Artistic Director of the Competition, stressed the difference this made in the jury’s work: „It brought us closer to the concert situation that reflects the artist’s personality.“
Professor Wegrzyn was joined in the Applications Jury by Konstanty Andrzej Kulka (Warsaw), Itzhak Rashkovsky (London) and Takashi Shimizu (Tokyo).
The Executive Director of the Competition, Linda Anne Engelhardt, profiled the competitors: 24 of the 36 artists are women. The USA (6), Korea (5) and Japan (5) will be most highly represented in Hannover. Three artists carry German passports. The other countries represented are: Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, the People’s Republic of China, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain and Taiwan. The average age of the competitors is 22 years, the youngest is 18 years old, the oldest 26.
The Competition can be seen and heard on the internet this year. The first four rounds will be live-streamed at www.violin-competition.de, the final concerts at www.ndrkultur.de. Additional special reports will also be transmitted on the competition’s website.
Tickets for all competition rounds go on sale on August 16th at www.violin-competition.de, www.ticketonline.de or in Germany by telephone at (01805) 44 70 (0,12 EUR/Min.) and at box-offices.
Current information on the competition is available at www.violin-competition.de or directly from Timo Ayumi Dörrie, telephone +49-(0)511-28 87 91-0, e-mail doerrie@dievision.de.
The Hannover International Violin Competition has been presented triennially since 1991 by the Foundation of Lower Saxony in cooperation with the University of Music and Drama Hannover, the Hannover State Opera of Lower Saxony and the Northern German Broadcasting Corporation. The competition is a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions (Geneva).