Bartók World Competition

97 violinists applied for this year's competition

5 June 2023

 Based on video recordings submitted by each applicant, the pre-selection jury – consisting of renowned professors of Liszt Academy –, will select those who will advance to the live rounds.

Ninety-seven applications from twenty-six countries have been received for Liszt Academy’s violin edition of the Bartók World Competition, the pre-selection jury will decide by 22 June who will be invited to the live rounds.

The largest number of applicants are from the United States (12), and there are many Russian (11), Japanese (9), Korean (9) and Chinese (8) nationals, too. In addition, six each from Poland and Hungary, four each from Germany, Italy and Spain, three each from Czechia and the Netherlands, two each from France, Serbia, Türkiye and the United Kingdom, and one each from Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, Moldova, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland applied. Of the applicants, 52 are female, 44 are male and the youngest was born in 2008.

The above numbers prove the international prestige and appeal of Liszt Academy’s Bartók World Competition: the highly demanding repertoire requires a wide range of skills, including knowledge of Bartók's music, but many talented youngsters are willing to face this challenge.

The Bartók World Competition, which has a six-year cycle, has reached a new milestone in 2023: after the first cycle ended with last year’s competition for composers, Liszt Academy organises a round for violinists this year as it did at the start of the series in 2017.

Live rounds will take place between September 2 and 10 with the financial support of the Hungarian government. The preliminaries, the semi-finals, the final as well as the gala concert and award ceremony will be open to the public and also streamed online.