24 violin contestants will have the chance to compete in this year’s competition in September
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The Joseph Joachim Violin Competition has announced the 24 competitors for the 2024 competition, which will take place from 16 to 28 September in Hanover. The contestants were chosen from 131 applications from 12 countries by the pre-selection jury, which met between 13 and 16 May.
Competitors will have the opportunity to demonstrate their skills for the chance to win the main ‘Joseph Joachim’ prize, worth €30,000, as well as the promise of future performance engagements, the production and distribution of a debut album, sheet music vouchers and the loan of a valuable violin. €10,000 will be awarded to each of the three finalists, who will perform alongside the NDR Radiophilharmonie under the baton of Stephan Zilias on 28 September at the NDR Konzerthaus in Hanover.
Over the coming months, the 24 violinists will prepare repertoire for the competition’s five rounds. Eight candidates will be selected for the semi-final recital round. The final round will consist of a concerto performance as well as the world premiere of a work by Enno Poppe, commissioned by Stiftung Niedersachsen for the competition. All participants will receive the composition at the end of June.
The competitors are:
Leonhard Baumgartner, 17, Austria
Angela Chan, 27, Hong Kong
Jacques Forestier, 19, Canada
Nicholas Hammel, 23, US
Yeyeong Jenny Jin, 20, South Korea
Gáspár Kelemen, 16, Hungary
Gaeun Kim, 16, South Korea
Alexander Won-Ho Kim, 31, South Korea
Hyein Koo, 23, South Korea
Maria Lundina, 23, Russia
Jason Moon, 24, US
Yukari Ohno, 29, Japan
Eunjoong Park, 23, South Korea
Kyumin Park, 27, South Korea
Tami Pohjola, 27, Finland
Jake Dongyoung Shim, 22, South Korea
Louisa Staples, 24, UK
Hannah Tam, 18, Hong Kong
Rina Tanaka, 21, Japan
Saki Tozawa, 23, Japan
Alexandra Weissbecker, 22, Germany
Claire Wells, 23, US
Xunyue Zhang, 20, China
Meng Zou, 21, China
The pre-selection jury was made up of musicians with close ties to the major orchestras in Hanover: Oliver Kipp (second violinist leader of the NDR Radiophilharmonie), Anna Lewis (principal violist of the NDR Radiophilharmonie), Kathrin Rabus (former first concertmaster of the NDR Radiophilharmonie), Reynard Rott (principal cellist of the Lower Saxony State Orchestra Hanover) and Friederike Starkloff (first concertmaster of the Basel Symphony Orchestra). They made their decision based on the application videos submitted, each featuring a recording of two movements of a sonata by Béla Bartók and a work by Franz Schubert.
’It was a great honour for us to be responsible for the pre-selection of the competition,’ said Friederike Starkloff on behalf of the jury. ’The standard of all the applicants was impressively high. Nevertheless, there were performances that directly touched us musically and artistically. We wish the 24 candidates every success in the competition and a good time in Hanover.’
The jury for the competition will be chaired by soprano Juliane Banse and will comprise violinists Lorenza Borrani, Ana Chumachenco, Ning Feng, Liza Ferschtman, violist Kim Kashkashian as well as pianist Robert Levin and conductor Stephan Zilias.
The Joseph Joachim Violin competition is held every three years. Recent winners include Maria Ioudenitch, Timothy Chooi and Sergey Dogadin.
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