The jury selected an evenly pan-global set of six finalists last night at the violin edition of the Montreal International Musical Competition. Canadian Nikki Chooi did not make the cut.
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Competing in the two days of the final round, which features a concerto performance with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra under guest conductor Maxim Vengerov (who knows a thing or two about the violin) are:
Tuesday: South Korean Ji Young Lim, Chi Li (Taiwan), and Marc Bouchkov (Belgium).
Wednesday: Zeyu Victori Li (China), Fédor Roudine (France) and Stephen Waarts (United States).
The two youngest competitors, both of whom turn 17 in early July, made it through to the finals and are both playing on the second night. Li will offer the warhorse Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, while Waarts is tackling the Brahms Violin Concerto.
In fact, it’s either one or the other work for all the finalists, which makes it easy to compare styles, but also says a lot about the limited musical scope of most competitions’ final rounds.
The seven-member jury includes the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Barry Shiffman and University of Montreal-based Vladimir Landsman.
CBC Music, the public broadcaster’s online resource, is offering some coverage here. You can check all the details of the competition here.
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
