Haik Kazazyan Wins 2025 Classic Violin Olympus International Competition

The 42-year-old Armenian violinist has won the €200,000 prize

Open to violinists of any age, the inaugural Classic Violin Olympus International Competition has come to a close in Dubai, UAE. The final round is available to watch here on The Violin Channel.

42-year-old Haik Kazazyan from Armenia has won the first prize, consisting of €200,000 and a Stradivari model violin specially crafted by the violinmaker Fabio Piagentini.

"This is really unbelievable, like a dream," Haik said onstage upon receiving the reward. "Thank you for appreciating my playing and my art. I feel a big responsibility to everyone who believed in me today to continue my own constant improvement."

During the final round, the 12 violinists competed in a six-phase program designed to bring out varying skills — including a performance with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and the Madrid Philharmonic Orchestra, solo performances, and a Q&A with the jurors.

The remaining 11 finalists were awarded €10,000 in prize money.

Additionally, the 25-member jury board of preeminent conductors and directors of acclaimed orchestras, festivals, and concert series will each offer a number of finalists the opportunity to perform live at one of their upcoming concerts.

The 2025 jury comprised Pavel Vernikov (Artistic Director), Facundo Agudin, Vicente Alberola, Giselle Ben Dor, Mauro Bucarelli, Epifanio Comis, Damiano Cottalasso, Mischa Damev, Dražen Domjanić, Jurek Dybał, Umberto Fanni, Jean-Baptiste Fra, Robert Hanč, Eleanor Hope, Konstantin Ilievsky, Daye Lin, Tigran Mikaelyan, Lucas Macías Navarro, Marios Papadopoulos, Christoph Poppen, Sergey Smbatyan, Anu Tali, Christiane Weber, Christopher Widauer, and Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer.