34 violinists from 15 countries will be arriving in Hannover this week to participate in the Sixth Hannover International Violin Competition, dedicated to Joseph Joachim. The Foundation of Lower Saxony (Stiftung Niedersachsen) has presented this classical event triennially since 1991 in cooperation with the Hannover State Opera House, the University of Music and Drama Hannover and the Northern German Broadcasting Corporation. This year, the competition presents two innovations. For the first time, the audience will be awarding its own prize, and the Hannover Competition will be presenting all performances in live video streaming on the internet.
On Saturday, September 30th, the competition will be opened at the Opera House by Nemanja Radulovic, First Prize Winner in 2003, performing with the Lower Saxony State Orchestra of Hannover conducted by Enrique Mazzola. The program includes Peter Tchaikovsky’s »Little Russian« Symphony No. 2 in c-minor and Aram Khatchaturian’s Concert for Violin and Orchestra in d-minor, op. 47.
The next day, the competitors, aged 18 to 26, start the first round at the University of Music and Drama Hannover. A top-class jury composed of 11 outstanding personalities from international musical life will be evaluating the violinists’ performances.
The Hannover International Violin Competition awards cash prizes of over 80,000 Euros, scholarships and debut concerts as well as CD and DVD productions. This makes it one of the world’s most generous competitions of its kind. For the first time, the audience gets the opportunity to show its preference by awarding a 1,000 Euro Audience Prize.
Listeners who come to both of the final concerts are eligible to vote for their personal favorites.
The award ceremony takes place on October 14th at the Gala Concert that winds up the competition. It will be broadcast on NDR Kultur radio at 8 p.m.
The live video streaming on the internet is the newest step forward by a competition that has always taken advantage of state-of-the-art communication. In the mid-1990's the Hannover Competition was one of the first to have its own website, and it has provided on-screen public viewing outside the concert hall since 1994. This year, all competition performances will be available on the internet. The first four rounds will be at www.violin-competition.de, the final concerts on October 12th and 13th at www.ndrkultur.de. In addition, documentary features in English and in German will be posted after each round, providing the latest comprehensive information from the competition to interested viewers around the world.
The Hannover International is more than just a violin competition. »The Competition in the Classroom« project is cooperating with schools throughout Lower Saxony, and the »Audience Academy« presents a lecture series with background information on the music and the topics relevant to the competition itself. »The Competition in the Countryside« offers musicians who will not be playing in the finals debut concerts in four cities in Lower Saxony: Celle (CD-Kaserne), Neuenkirchen (Springhornhof), Osnabrueck (Fattoria musica) and Wolfenbuettel (Bundesakademie für kulturelle Bildung). All concerts take place on October 11th.
The competition is closely associated with the people and institutions in the city and region of Hannover and in the State of Lower Saxony. This is reflected in the hospitality extended to the competitors by host families in Hannover, a program that enjoys an outstanding reputation among young musicians world-wide.
Further information on all aspects of the Hannover International Violin Competition is posted at www.violin-competition.de. Media queries can be directed to Timo Ayumi Dörrie at +49-511-2887910 or doerrie@dievision.de.