This year's Competition begins with violinists from 16 countries
After the order of appearance for the entrants was determined, the 2023 Bartók World Competition for Violinists at the Liszt Academy of Music, with a total prize fund of 46,000 euros, began on 3 September with the preliminaries and will end on 10 September with the award ceremony and gala, bringing together 32 young talents from 16 countries.
In conformity with the tradition of the Liszt Academy's competitions, the youngest entrant, 15-year-old Gáspár Kelemen, drew the name of the first performer, Zhang Xunyue from China. The others will follow in alphabetical order, and the order will remain the same throughout the competition. There will be 7 Japanese, 3 Hungarian and 3 Russian, 2 Korean, Czech, Spanish, Italian, Chinese and UK nationals, and one each from Romania, Turkey, Sweden, Germany, Moldova, France and the United States.
"As one of the world’s leading music universities, nurturing talent is our most important mission, and as Bartók’s alma mater, we are committed to tending to his legacy” - said Rector Dr Andrea Vigh in her opening speech. She recalled that the international competition, which is held in six-year cycles, consists of interlinked competitions alternating between contests for instrumentalists and composers, and thanked the Hungarian state for its support.
"Hungary has given the world a number of outstanding musicians. It is a pleasure and distinction to be at the Liszt Academy, the centre of music in Hungary." - said American violinist Daniel Phillips in his address of welcome. The head of the international jury and teacher at The Juilliard School of Music, New York, encouraged the competitors to make music rather than try to meet the jury's expectations and added that they were looking forward to a wonderful, week-long stream of concerts.
The competition is accessible to the public: entry to the preliminaries and the semi-finals is free of charge, while tickets for the finals and the gala awards concert are available on the Liszt Academy website and at its ticket office, and also by clicking here:
Orchestral Final 1: 9 September, 15:00