Prizes awarded at the 8th Henri Marteau International Violin Competition

The finals of the 8th Henri Marteau International Violin Competition were held on 6 May 2023 at Lichtenberg and Hof in Oberfranken, Bavaria. The final round saw six violinists under the age of 25 perform a violin concerto accompanied by the Hofer Symphoniker under the baton of Christoph-Mathias Mueller.

Following a performance of Paganini’s Violin Concerto no.1, 24-year-old Dutch violinist Hawijch Elders took first place and a cash prize of €10,000. She will also receive a broadcast opportunity with the competition media partner Bayerischer Rundfunk, as well as production of a CD release and future performance opportunities. In addition to first prize, she also won three special prizes for the best interpretation of works by Bach, Reger and Marteau.

Elders has been an artist in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel since September 2022, where she studies with Augustin Dumay. She was the winner of the 2021 Leonid Kogan International Competition for Young Violinists. She won second prize and special prizes at the Odessa International Violin Competition, is a laureate of the Dutch Classical Talent season 2021/2022 and was a semi-finalist in the Sibelius and the Wieniawski International Violin Competitions in 2022.

She currently plays on a c.1755 violin by Gennaro Gagliano and a 19th-century bow by Jean Pierre Marie Persoit, on loan from the Dutch Musical Instruments Foundation.

Chinese violinist Xunyue Zang took second prize of  €7,500, while Austrian violinist Julian Walder took third prize of €5,000. They will also receive future concert engagements.

The jury was chaired by Gilbert Varga and comprised Michael Frischenschlager, Erika Geldsetzer, Ilya Kaler, Natalia Lomeiko, Silvia Marcovici, Kurt Saßmannshaus, Alexandra Soumm and Ingolf Turban. 

The first edition of the  Henri Marteau International Violin Competition was held in 2002, with the competition usually taking place every three years. The last edition was won by German violinist Lorenz Chen.

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