A number of the 69 contestants are prize winners from other international competitions
The Queen Elisabeth Competition – which this year is devoted to violin – has announced the names of the 69 candidates who have been admitted to the first public round. The Brussels-based competition currently recognises musicians in violin, piano and singing disciplines ‘who have completed their training and who are ready to embark upon an international career’. The 2017 edition will be dedicated to the cello for the first time.
The 2015 first laureate will receive a prize of €25,000 and the loan of the ‘Huggins’ Stradivarius violin by the Nippon Music Foundation for a period of four years.
In February DVD entries from 170 candidates were whittled down to 69 from 20 different countries by an international jury – comprising Arie Van Lysebeth (chair), Pierre Amoyal, Patrice Fontanarosa, Mihaela Martin, Natalia Prischepenko, Marco Rizzi and Gilbert Varga.
Among the selected candidates are a number of names familiar to the competition circuit, including 2013 Windsor Festival International String Competition winner Benjamin Baker, 2014 Singapore International Violin Competition second and third place winners Richard Lin and Sirena Huang, 2013 David Oistrakh Interntional Violin Competition Senior Division winner Ji-Yoon Lee, 2014 Menuhin Competition Senior Division winner Stephen Waarts (pictured), and 2015 Paganini International Competition winner In Mo Yang.
The Queen Elisabeth Competition has helped to launch the careers of a number of outstanding violinists, including David Oistrakh in 1937, Jamie Laredo in 1959, Miriam Fried in 1971, Vadim Repin in 1989, Nikolaj Znaider in 1997 and Ray Chen in 2009. 2012’s winner was Russian violinist Andrey Baranov .
The 2015 iteration runs from 4 to 30 May; visit the Competition website for a full list of candidates.
Photo: Matt Dine
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