Applications Closing for the 2024 Joseph Joachim Violin Competition

Taking place in Hanover in September 2024, the competition offers €30,000 to its winner alongside a host of other prizes

Applications are now open for the twelfth edition of the Joseph Joachim Violin Competition, which will take place in Hanover, Germany between September 16 and September 28, 2024. The competition is run by the Stiftung Niedersachsen and takes place every three years.

Open to violinists born between September 29, 1991, and September 16, 2008, the competition's applications will close on March 31, 2024. You can apply here.

A significant amount of prize money is available: the winner will receive €30,000, while each finalist will receive €10,000. There are several other prizes, including several concert engagements, the 3-year loan of a violin by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini from the Fritz Behrens Foundation, and a 2,000 Euro Audience Award.

Additionally, the Warner Classics label will select one person from all participants whose debut album it will communicate and market internationally, while G. Henle Verlag will award a music voucher worth 2,000 Euro to the finalists.

For the pre-selection stage, applicants will need to prepare the third and fourth movements of Bartók's Sonata for solo violin, Sz 117 (to be played from memory), as well as a complete work for violin and piano by Franz Schubert (played from the score).

For the pre-selection, five jurors have been recruited who share a long-standing connection to Hanover and the partner orchestra, the NDR Radiophilharmonie: Oliver Kipp, Anna Lewis, Kathrin Rabus, Nikolai Schneider, and Friederike Starkloff.

A complete list of repertoire required for the competition can be found here. It includes a newly commissioned work by composer Enno Poppe.

The finalists will perform with the NDR Radiophilharmonie under the direction of Stephan Zilias, while the semi-final round will include performances with the Munich Chamber Orchestra and theKuss Quartet.

At the 2024 edition, the competition's jury will comprise Juliane Banse (chair), as well as violinists Ana Chumachenco, Lorenza Borrani, Ning Feng, Liza Ferschtman, violist Kim Kashkashian, pianist Robert Levin, and conductor Stephan Zilias. At the 2021 edition, rules around the jury were updated, and now it is standard practice to include a number of musicians who are not violinists.

"We are looking for curious minds who have perfect command of their instrument and at the same time are humble servants of great composers and their scores — young artists who boldly strive for individuality and make bold musical statements with the violin...musicians whose voices evoke deep emotions and display an extraordinary degree of versatility," said the competition's artistic directors, Antje Weithaas and Oliver Wille.

The timeline of the competition is as follows:

• Preliminary round 1 | violin solo — September 16 to 18, 2024
• Preliminary round 2 | violin and piano — September 18 to 20, 2024
• Semi-final round 1 | Chamber concerts with the Munich Chamber Orchestra — September 22 & 23, 2024
• Semi-final round 2 | Recital and string quartet movement with the Kuss Quartet — September 23 to 25, 2024
• Final with award ceremony | Commissioned work and violin concerto with the NDR Radiophilharmonie – September 28, 2024