The top six violinists in the prestigious Michael Hill International Violin Competition for 2011 have been announced with three of them performing in a concert with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra this Saturday.
Michael Hill International Violin Competition
With the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Auckland Town Hall
June 11th
The top six violinists in the prestigious Michael Hill International Violin Competition for 2011 have been announced with three of them performing in a concert with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra this Saturday.
Eighteen violinists from around the world performed in the initial rounds of competition in Queenstown. The six semi-finalists who have been going through the next round in Auckland this week are Stefani Collins (USA), Nadir Khashimov (Uzbekistan /USA), Richard Lin (USA) Sergey Malov (Russia) Eric Silberger (USA) and Xiang Yu (China)
Richard Lin won the $2000 award for best performance of the specially-commissioned work Gyftiko (“gypsy”) by New Zealand composer John Psathas.
Michael Hill International Violin Competition Director Anne Rodda says the international judging panel agreed that there had been a noticeable jump in the standard of competitors this year and it was fantastic to have full houses for the initial rounds in Queenstown.
“A number of people travelled from all around New Zealand to come to Queenstown and follow the entire competition.”
The Michael Hill International Violin Competition aims to promote young violinists from all over the world who are launching their professional solo careers and are aspiring to establish themselves on the world stage. The competition wishes to recognise and encourage excellence and musical artistry, and to expand performance opportunities. All competition applicants are aged between 18-28 years.
The competition is judged by an international panel including Michael Dauth (Germany/Australia), Boris Garlitsky (Russia/UK), Mark Kaplan (USA), Cho-Liang Lin (Taiwan/USA), Tasmin Little (UK), Vesa-Matti Leppänen (Finland/NZ) and Lara St John (Canada). The panel is chaired by New Zealander Dr Robin Congreve.
The winner of the Michael Hill International Violin Competition receives $NZ40,000, a CD recording through Atoll, and a winner’s tour in 2012 with Chamber Music New Zealand. Second through sixth prizes receive NZ$1,000 to NZ$10,000. A new prize offered by Julian Anderson will award the best chamber music player NZ$2,000 and the Michael Hill Audience Prize will be determined by audience texting.
The Competition gratefully acknowledges support received from its array of sponsors including Michael Hill International, ANZ, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, McCann Worldgroup, Villa Maria Estate, Hotel DeBrett, and the British Council.
Tickets for the next round are available from the Aotea Centre Box Office, by phoning 0800 BUY TICKETS (289 842) or ww.buytickets.co.nz
