Romanian violinist Iohan Coman received the €10,000 first prize
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Romanian violinist Iohan Coman, 23, won first prize at the 2024 Mieczysław Wajnberg International Violin Competition on 7 December following two days of finals. He receives €10,000. Coman played Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto no.1 with the Karol Szymanowski Academic Symphony Orchestra in the final round, which took place at the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland.
US–Finnish violinist Matthew Hakkarainen, 24, took home the €5,000 second prize and performed Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto no.2, while Slovenian violinist Maja Horvat, 28, was awarded third prize and €3,000. She performed Wajnberg’s Violin Concerto in G minor. All finalists received a diploma and all top three prizewinners performed in the 8 December laureates concert.
Born in Paris, Coman began his studies at the Conservatoire Rachmaninoff, as well as studying in Romania, where he won national and international competitions. Coman moved to London in 2018 to study at the Royal Academy of Music with So-Ock Kim. He has participated in masterclasses with Hilary Hahn, Anthony Marwood and Luke Hsu, and played alongside conductors such as Trevor Pinnock, Simon Rattle, Semyon Bychkov and John Wilson.
The 2024 jury was chaired by Szymon Krzeszowiec (Poland) and comprised Eszter Haffner (Austria), Dima Tkachenko (Ukraine), Maria Sławek (Poland), Andreas Vierziger (Austria), and Łukasz Błaszczyk (Poland).
The competition, which began in 2021, is named after one of Poland’s most prolific composers Mieczysław Weinberg (1919–96), a contemporary of Lutosławski, Bartók and Shostakovich.
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