Prizes awarded at the Netherlands Violin Competition

The final rounds of the Netherlands Violins Competition were held in Utrecht on 29 January. Due to Covid restrictions, performances were broadcast via livestream instead of the originally planned live audiences.

The Oskar Back prize for violinists aged 18-25 was awarded to Isobel Warmelink (25). She was awarded €12,000. Emma Roijackers (26) won second prize of €6000 as well as the audience prize of €1000, and third prize of €4000 went to Iris van Nuland (19).

Warmelink is a graduate of Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, where she studied with Koosje van Haeringen and Vera Beth. She has given solo performances with numerous orchestras including the Royal Conservatoire Orchestra, Sinfonia Rotterdam, the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands, the Símon Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century.

The jury comprised of Susanne van Els (chairman), Isabelle van Keulen, Maria Milstein, Daniel Rowland, Ed Spanjaard, Tjeerd Top and Patty Hamel (jury secretary), who praised Warmelink’s ’fantastic interplay with the orchestra’.

The finalists were accompanied by the Residentie Orchestra, conducted by Bas Wiegers.

Previous winners of the Oskar Back prize include second violinist of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, Coraline Groen in 2020, and Michael Foyle in 2016.

Earlier that day, the  €3000 Davina van Wely prize for violinists aged 14-17 was awarded to Joshua Tavenier (16), while joint second prize went to Zohra Jongerius (16) and Luca van der Waals (15).

The jury for this category comprised of Elisabeth Perry (chairman), Maaike Aarts, Cindy Albracht, Sonja van Beek, Bas Treub and Alessandra Sordo-Sànchez (jury secretary)

The finalists were accompanied by the Netherlands Youth String Orchestra conducted by Carel den Hertog.