Canadian musicians Gabrielle Després and Julia Mirzoev have advanced to the quarter-finals of the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. The 11th edition of the competition, dubbed the “New Zealand Violin Olympics”, will be held for the first time since 2019.
The competition is open to violinists between the ages of 18 and 28, and drew a record number of 160 applicants for the next iteration, which will take place from June 2 to 10, 2023 in New Zealand. Originally held on a biennial basis, the event is now held every three years.
At stake is a top prize of $40,000 NZ, a Winners tour that will take them on the road with Chamber Music New Zealand, and a recording contract on the Atoll label. There will also be a special prize of the three-year loan of an instrument from Rare Violins of New York.
“The selection panel of five wonderful violinists — Andrew Beer, Bella Hristova, Wilma Smith, Robin Wilson and Vesa-Matti Leppänen — worked extremely hard, carefully assessing all of the applicants’ videos. It took them a full five days arrive at an outcome,” says Anne Rodda, Executive Director, in a media release.
“A really obvious development in this generation of high-performance violinists is their awareness of the changes in the industry and the expectation of young musicians that they embrace a multi-faceted and self-initiated career pathway. Heartening is the number that genuinely want to serve their communities and work in non-traditional settings to reach new audiences.”
The remaining 2023 quarter-finalists (including age and country):
- Jiayi Chen, 26 — China/Austria
- Kingston Ho, 21 — USA
- Seonglan Hong, 21 — South Korea
- Yeyeong Jin, 19 — South Korea/USA
- Lorenz Karls, 21 — Sweden/Austria
- Tianyu Liu, 23 — China/USA
- Audrey Park, 20 — USA
- Eva Rabchevska, 26 — Ukraine/Germany
- Aoi Saito, 25 — Japan/Germany
- Hani Song, 25 — Switzerland/Germany
- Karen Su, 24 — USA/Belgium
- Yuri Tanaka, 17 — Japan/Germany
- Ayaka Uchio, 25 — Japan/Germany
- Claire Wells, 21 — USA/Germany
Selection Panelist and APO Concertmaster Andrew Beer says, “This is my fourth time being a part of the selection panel for the MHIVC and we’ve never seen so many strong applicants. The future of violin playing is bright and this June’s competition is going to be phenomenal.”
Gradually whittled down to a field of three finalists, the grand finale concert will see each perform with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.
For the competition in June, the international judging panel includes former competition winners Bulgarian-American violinist Bella Hristova (2007); Chinese Ning Feng (2005); and Russian born, NZ raised Natalia Lomeiko (2003); Wilma Smith (NZ/AU) and pianist Piers Lane (UK). They will be joined by internationally renowned Canadian violinist James Ehnes and celebrated UK violinist Anthony Marwood.
The international competition is a glimpse at the stars of tomorrow. Past laureates of the Michael Hill prize include international soloist Ray Chen, Josef Spaček, currently concertmaster of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and Canadian/American violinist and professor Timothy Chooi, among many others.
The Canadian contingent
Both of the competitors with Canadian roots have impressive resumes, and a string of previous wins to their credit.
Julia Mirzoev
- The Toronto native earned her B.M. at the University of Toronto, studying with TSO Concertmaster Jonathan Crow;
- She received a Graduate Diploma in Professional Performance from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music;
- She received her M.M. degree at the Yale School of Music, studying with Ani Kavafian;
- She was also awarded the Broadus Erle graduating prize at Yale;
- Third Prize winner of the 2019 Irving M. Klein International String Competition & prize for Best Performance of the Commissioned Work.;
- First prize at the Cremona International Festival Competition;
- Grand prize at the Canadian Music Competition.
She’s performed as a soloist with Sinfonia Toronto, the University of Toronto Symphony, Orchestra Toronto, and the Toronto Symphony, along with the Montreal Chamber Music Festival orchestra and Scarborough Philharmonic.
As a dedicated chamber musician, Julia is a founding member of the Myriade String Quartet, selected to compete in the live rounds of the Wigmore Hall and Trondheim String Quartet competitions.
Gabrielle Després
- The Alberta native earned a Bachelor of Music at the Juilliard School, studying with Masao Kawasaki and Joseph Lin (who took first prize at the inaugural Michael Hill competition);
- She is currently pursuing a Master of Music degree as a recipient of the Kovner Fellowship at Juilliard, studying with Catherine Cho and Donald Weilerstein;
- First Prize in the 2022 Juilliard Concerto Competition;
- First Prize in the 2020 Irving M. Klein International String Competition;
- Second Prize in the 2021 Shean Strings Competition.
Gabrielle has performed as a soloist with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Edmonton, and served as Concertmaster of the Juilliard Orchestra in 2021. Gabrielle plays on a 1790 Giuseppe and Antonio Gagliano of Naples violin on loan from the Brobst Violin Shop.
Good luck to all the competitors.
#LUDWIGVAN
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