Of a total of 15 candidates from all over the world who came to Sion, Switzerland, to participate in the biannual competition, the 16-year-old Corina Deng won first prize as well as three special prizes.
© Céline Ribordy Camerazin
The 2024 Tibor Junior International Violin Competition concluded on Saturday 24 August in Sion, Switzerland, with three young violinists ages 14 to 17 competing in the final round. This year marked the fourth edition of the event, which is hosted by the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition.
Sixteen-year old Corina Deng, from Canada (pictured above at the left), was awarded the first prize and CHF5,000 (£4,400). In the finals, Deng competed against Viktor Vasilev (17, Bulgaria; above centre), who took the second prize (CHF2,000); and Qingyuan Yang (14, China/UK; above right), who came third (CHF1,000).
Deng received three additional distinctions: the Audience Prize, the Calma Management Prize and the prize for the best interpretation of the competition’s commissioned work, Onde-Punti-Voci for solo violin and string orchestra by Serbian-Canadian composer Ana Sokolović.
Of the Sion Musique Foundation Prizes, Yang received that for violin, which makes a Nicolò Gagliano c. 1735 instrument available for one year from Atelier Schilbach, while Vasilev received the Louis Bazin – 1940 bow prize and Natalia Dragan (15, Poland) the recent bow – Paris prize. Yang was also awarded the ‘Over-20s’ Jury Prize. For the latter, five audience members who had participated in a workshop led by musicologist Marie Favre on how to evaluate a musical performance attended the second round and the final and chose their candidate.
The final round took place on 24 August at the Théâtre de Valère, accompanied by mezzo-soprano Marie-Claude Chappuis and the South Czech Philharmonic conducted by Jan Talich. The concert featured an interlude by Seohyun Kim, winner of the Tibor Varga 2023 International Violin Competition. It was live-streamed on the Internet and will be rebroadcast on Canal 9 television.
This year’s edition of the Tibor Junior International Violin Competition attracted 30 violinists aged 14 to 17 from all over the world to compete. A total of 15 candidates were selected to take part in the public rounds held from 20 to 24 August. Five came from Asia/Oceania, six from Europe – including one from Switzerland – and four from North America.
The 2024 jury comprised Pavel Vernikov (president of the jury, Switzerland), Marie-Claude Chappuis (Switzerland), Mario Hossen (Bulgaria-Austria), Alexandre Vinnitski (Finland), Eduard Wulfson (Germany) and Ana Sokolović (Serbia/Canada), who joined the jury in the second round.
The competition is open to violinists of all nationalities aged 14 to 17. It has taken place every two years since its inception in 2018, in alternation with its senior counterpart, the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition, one of three events created in the 1960s by the Hungarian violinist. The Tibor Varga Music Academy ran from 8 July to 10 August, while the Sion Festival celebrates its 60th anniversary from 16 August to 4 September.
Read: Finalists announced for the Tibor Junior International Violin Competition
Read: Seohyun Kim wins 2023 Tibor Varga Violin Competition
Read: Maria Ioudenitch wins Tibor Varga International Violin Competition 2021
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