BREAKING | Finalists Announced at New Zealand’s Michael Hill Violin Competition

All rounds of this year’s event are being streamed LIVE here on The Violin Channel and are available now for playback

The three competitors progressing through to the Final stage of the 2023 Michael Hill International Violin Competition have today been announced, in Auckland, New Zealand.

This year's finalists are:

Yeyeong Jenny Jin (20, South Korea/United States)

Claire Wells (22, United States/Germany)

Lorenz Karls (21, Sweden/Austria)

All rounds of this year’s event are being streamed LIVE here on The Violin Channel.

For the Final stage, to be held at the Auckland Town Hall on the June 10th, each of the three finalists will perform a major violin concerto with conductor Andrew Litton and the Auckland Philharmonia.

This year's finalists are competing for a $40,000 NZ cash prize, a recording contract with the Atoll label, a multi-city winners tour with Chamber Music New Zealand and the three-year loan of a fine violin courtesy of Rare Violins of New York.

This year's jury is made up of Hon Christopher Finlayson (Chairperson), violinists Bella Hristova, Ning Feng, Natalia Lomeiko, Wilma Smith, James Ehnes, Anthony Marwood and international pianist Piers Lane.

The Michael Hill International Violin Competition has been the springboard for the careers of many internationally acclaimed soloists, teachers, concertmasters, and ensemble players, including Joseph Lin, Ning Feng and Natalia Lomeiko and VC Artists Nikki and Timothy Chooi, Sergey Malov, Josef Spaček and Bella Hristova.