107 violinists will perform at the global pre-selection rounds in April and May for a chance to participate in the competition this October

GIBBONI ZHU -5830

2021 Premio Paganini winner Giuseppe Gibboni congratulates the 2023 winner Simon Zhu | premiopaganini.it

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107 violinists have been admitted to compete for a place in the 58th Premio Paganini International Violin Competition, which will be held this year in Genoa from 14 to 26 October.

The admitted candidates will play at the pre-selection rounds, which will take place in Genoa (3 and 4 April), Guangzhou (12 and 13 April), Seoul (16 April) New York 29 and 30 April) and Berlin (6 and 8 May).

Eight candidates will gain direct access to the competition in Genoa, bypassing the pre-selection stage due to their prior successes in competitions of the World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC). 24 candidates will qualify for the final rounds in Genoa.

Women make up 55 per cent of the applications. The average age of participants is 22, with the youngest candidate aged 16. 

Artistic director Nicola Bruzzo stated: ’I am very pleased not only with the number of applicants but especially with the truly high quality of the submissions, despite a more complex test structure compared to previous editions.

’The next winner of the Premio will need to demonstrate diverse skills: Paganinian virtuosity, chamber music sensitivity, and the ability to share their musical vision with the audience.

’The 58th edition is off to a great start. I would like to thank the jury who will work with me during the pre-selections and all those involved in various capacities, starting with the relevant Italian Cultural Institutes.’

The pre-selection jury includes Nicola Bruzzo (all auditions), Alexandra Conunova (all auditions), Timothy Chooi (New York), Bin Huang (Guangzhou), Min Kim (Seoul), Andrea Obiso (Genoa) and Natalia Prishepenko (Berlin).

This year’s competition jury is chaired by violinist  Uto Ughi, and comprises Ana Chumachenco, Pavel Berman, Pamela Frank, Mihaela Martin, Enzo Restagno, and Sayaka Shoji.

The competition is open to violinists worldwide aged 15 to 30. The top prize includes €30,000 cash, numerous concert engagements, a recording contract with Platoon and the opportunity to perform on Paganini’s 1743 Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ ‘Il Cannone’ violin.

The list of the admitted candidates is as follows, in alphabetical order of surname. Candidates marked (*) have gained direct admission to the competition in Genoa.

1 ABOUZAHRA MARIAM (*)

2 AKHEMETZHANOVA AMINA

3 ALEXANDER CALVIN

4 ANGELOV JULIA

5 BAIK SEOYEON

6 BORREANI INDRO

7 BROOKE RABIA

8 CANSEVER ELIF

9 CHANG SUNG CHI

10 CHEN YIGE

11 CHEN YU HSIN

12 CHEN ZHANGBO

13 CHENG I-HAO

14 CHUNG WONBEEN

15 CNOCKAERT EDITH

16 DI LORENZO SALVATORE

17 DRAGAN SARA (*)

18 ELIAS ELIAS

19 FAN HIU SING

20 FENG LINGXIAO

21 FRAGUAS JOSE

22 FURUSAWA KAORI

23 GALANO KRISTINE

24 GIANNOTTI VERONICA

25 HAN ZIJIN

26 HIRAI MIU

27 HONG YOOJIN

28 HOU YIYANG

29 HUANG YUE

30 JIN YEYEONG JENNY (*)

31 JU AHYEON

32 JUKNEVICIUTE LINA

33 KAKIUCHI EMIRI

34 KANG SEUNGHYUN

35 KANG YOOKYUNG

36 KARAPETYAN GOR

37 KARLS LORENZ (*)

38 KAYEDPOUR ALBERT

39 KIM DAYEON

40 KIM HYUN SEO (*)

41 KIM JIIN

42 KIMURA WAKANA

43 KO SOHYUN

44 KWON HOJUNG

45 LEE ALICE

46 LEE DAISY (MYUNG WEON)

47 LI HAO

48 LI JINZHU (*)

49 LIM DONGMIN

50 LIN ZIXIANG

51 LU TIAN TIAN

52 LUNDINA MARIA

53 MA TIANYOU (*)

54 MATSUMOTO HIROKA

55 MAZZON ULISSE

56 MILENKOVIC TEOFIL

57 MIYAMOTO TAICHI

58 MKRTICHIAN SERGEI

59 MORISHITA MASAKI

60 NAKAJIMA MITSUKI

61 NAPOLITANO FLAVIA

62 NAYA JAIME

63 OBOLASHVILI MARIAM

64 OK SUNJAE

65 PAPUSHEV ALEKSANDR

66 PIRES CATALINA

67 PYO JUYOUNG

68 RODINA INGA

69 SAITO AOI

70 SAKAMOTO REIKA

71 SASAKI MIO

72 SCARANO VALERIO

73 SERINO YUKI

74 SHEN ZIXUAN

75 SHIM JAKE DONGYOUNG (*)

76 SMEU PETRE ABRAHAM

77 STAMENOV YASSEN

78 STARC ANNIKA

79 SUN XIAONA

80 SUZUKI ANNA

81 TAGUCHI HINATA

82 TAKEMOTO KAHO

83 TENG MING-CHUN

84 TOTH KRISTOF

85 VAN HOEIJ MAXWELL

86 VILLARIN EMANUEL JOHN

87 WANG AOCHEN

88 WANG JINYU

89 WANG RUIYI

90 WANG YAOZHANG

91 WANG YIMING

92 WEE JAEWON

93 WU JITONG

94 WU YULUN

95 XU JINGXUAN

96 YANG ESTHER

97 YANGXIN SONG

98 YOSHIDA KAORUKO

99 YOSHIMOTO RINO

100 YUE MINGNAN

101 YUMIBA YUMIKO

102 ZHANG AOZHE

103 ZHANG CHENGRUI

104 ZHANG ZHINXIN

105 ZHAO YNAN

106 ZHENG ZIMO

107 ZOU MENG

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