Twelve violinists have progressed for the chance to win the top prize of €10,000 as the competition takes place this week
The 2024 Mieczysław Wajnberg International Violin Competition is currently taking place in Katowice, Poland, and has announced twelve violinists who have progressed to the semi-final stage, following the first-round performances from 30 contestants.
Comprising violinists of any nationality born between 1993 and 2005 (inclusive), the twelve semi-finalists are:
Iohan Coman (Romania)
Alexandra Cooreman (Belgium)
Matthew Hakkarainen (US/Finland)
Maja Horvat (Slovenia)
Mira Marton (Poland)
Anna Perl (Germany)
Lilia Pocitari (Moldova)
Hanna Pozorska (Poland)
Ștefan Şimonca-Opriţa (Romania)
Gaja Wilewska (Poland)
Reina Yoshioka (Japan)
Zhang Zou (China)
In the semi-final, the contestants must play an obligatory work by Aleksander Nowak, a chosen piece for solo violin with or without piano accompaniment, plus one of a choice of three Mieczysław Wajnberg violin sonatas.
The violinists chosen to progress to the final round will perform a concerto by Prokofiev, Shostakovich or Wajnberg with the Karol Szymanowski Academic Symphony Orchestra on 6 and 7 December.
The winner will receive €10,000, while second and third place will receive €5,000 and €3,000 respectively. All finalists will receive a diploma, with the main prizewinners performing in a laureates concert on 8 December.
The jury is chaired by Szymon Krzeszowiec (Poland) and comprises Eszter Haffner (Austria), Dima Tkachenko (Ukraine), Maria Sławek (Poland), Andreas Vierziger (Austria), and Łukasz Błaszczyk (Poland).
The competition takes its name from Polish composer Mieczysław Weinberg (1919-1996), a contemporary of Witold Lutosławski, Bela Bartok and Dmitri Shostakovich. The first edition of the competition was held in 2021 and was won by Russian violinist Dmitry Serebrennikov.
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