First prize of PLN 15,000 (£3,000) was awarded to Polish luthier Martyna Reske, as well as an honourable mention of PLN 2,000 (£400) for her other submitted instrument
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The inaugural Włodzimierz Kamiński Art of Violin Making Festival announced the winners of its International Violin Making Competition at its gala concert on 28 October at the Aula Nova of the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, Poland.
First prize of PLN 15,000 (£3,000) was awarded to Polish luthier Martyna Reske, as well as an honourable mention of PLN 2,000 (£400) for her other submitted instrument. Second prize of PLN 11,000 (£2,200) was awarded to Polish luthier Janusz Bryniarski, and third prize of PLN 8,000 (£1,600) to South Korean luthier Seoyeon Kim. Honourable mentions of PLN 2,000 (£400) were also awarded to Lee Kwang Hoon from South Korea, and Klemens Siatkowski from Poland. Further prizes were awarded in the form of wood, strings, and violin cases.
The competition was held in two stages. In the first, the jury privately assessed the ergonomic and aesthetic qualities of instruments; in the second, the jury assessed the sound of the instruments through a screened performance by violinist Celina Kotz, open to the public. Candidates were allowed to submit up to two instruments for the competition.
The inaugural jury comprised Honorata Stalmierska, Roman Barnaś, Dominique Nicosia, Ulrike Rempel, Agata Szymczewska, Jarosław Nadrzycki, and was chaired by Peter Beare.
The competition was organised in collaboration between the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań, the Włodzimierz Kamiński and Helena Harajda Art of Violin Making Foundation, and the Polish Union of Artist Violin Makers. Other events of the festival included the Polish Artist Violin Makers Exhibition, the International Violin Making Conference, and the Violin Making Workshop-Masterclass with luthiers Andrew Fairfax and Marcin Krupa.
‘The meeting of pedagogues and students from different European schools, exchange of ideas and experiences, networking, these were some of the primary goals of our Festival,’ festival director Honorata Stalmierska wrote in a statement. ‘We did not know what the response would be neither from students nor from professors, however, our initiative was received with a very positive reaction.’
Read: From concept to sound: What judges look for in a violin making competition
Read: Making Matters: How I set up a violin making workshop during the pandemic
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