Six violinists will progress to the next round to perform chamber music
The 2026 Michael Hill International Violin Competition began on 29 May at the Queenstown Memorial Hall in Queenstown, New Zealand. Sixteen violinists competed across two rounds, performing two different programmes with collaborative pianists Sarah Watkins and Paige Molloy Roberts, with six violinists selected to progress to the semi-final round.
They are:
Beatrice Colombis (Australia and Germany)
Hyein Koo (South Korea)
Tianyou Ma (US)
Jakow Pavlenko (Germany)
Julia-Xiaohuo Wang (Austria)
Xunyue Zhang (Germany)
Colombis has already been awarded NZD1,000 (£450) for the best performance of the commissioned work, Chasm by Salina Fisher.
The competition will relocate north for the semi-final round, taking place at the Auckland Town Hall on 3–4 June. The competitors will each perform a Mozart piano quintet alongside members of the NZTrio, comprising violinist Amalia Hall, cellist Matthias Balzat and pianist Jian Liu, as well as Auckland Philharmonia violist Robert Ashworth. Each competitor will have only 90 minutes to rehearse the work.
The ten violinists that did not progress to the semi-final round will instead engage in professional development opportunities with the jury members and deliver workshops with talented New Zealand musicians.
The final round of the competition will take place on 6 June at the Auckland Town Hall, with the selected three finalists performing concertos with the Auckland Philharmonia and conductor Alan Burabayev.
The first prize will comprise a cash prize of NZD40,000 (£17,600), a recording on the Atoll Label, a personalised professional development programme, a Michael Hill gold and diamond pendant, and a tour in 2027.
This year’s jury is chaired by Alastair Carruthers CNZM and comprises James Ehnes, Josef Špaček, Vera Tsu Weiling, Natsuko Yoshimoto, Andrew Beer, Edward Dusinberre and Geneva Lewis.
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