Italy's 57th "Premio Paganini" International Violin Competition Begins Pre-Selection Process

Over 100 young violinists are competing in the preselection rounds which are being held around the globe

The Premio Paganini Competition was founded in 1954 to pay homage to the famous virtuoso from Genoa. The new relaunch of the competition is strongly supported by Genoa's Mayor Marco Bucci, who entrusted the Presidency of the Prize to Giovanni Panebianco, former Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture.

The pre-selection rounds of the competition are currently underway until May 30, 2023, and will select a maximum of 30 young violinists. After the first preselection in Guangzhou, China, and the second in New York, the remaining pre-selection rounds will take place at the Italian Cultural Institutes of Prague and Tokyo and culminate in Genoa, Italy, at the Niccolò Paganini Conservatory.

104 candidates are competing in this pre-selection round — performing two Capricci by Niccolò Paganini and the first movement of a Concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with pianist Luna Costantini.

The members of the Pre-selection Committees chaired by the Artistic Director of the Premio Paganini, Nazzareno Carusi include:

• Vera Weiling Tsu and Mengla Huang in Guangzhou
• Jinjoo Cho and Benjamin Bowman in New York
• Mariusz Patyra and Silvia Marcovici in Prague
• Machie Oguri and Mauro Iurato in Tokyo
• Massimo Quarta and Pavel Vernikov in Genoa

The First Prize, entitled “Premio Paganini,” will receive € 30,000, while the 2nd Prize is at € 20,000 and the 3rd Prize is at € 10,000. 4th through 6th Prize will receive € 4,000, € 3,000, and € 2,000 respectively.

The Premio Paganini winner will also be invited to perform at an impressive list of concerts, found here, at world-renowned institutions beginning with Teatro alla Scala in Milan.

Additionally, the winner will be offered the opportunity to play the "Cannone," — the famous violin made in 1743 by the luthier Giuseppe Guarneri "del Gesù," which Paganini gave to his hometown and which is now kept in Palazzo Tursi, seat of the Municipality of Genoa.

The 2023 jury includes Salvatore Accardo (President) Ilya Grubert, Michael Guttman, Christopher Reuning, Maxim Vengerov, Reiko Watanabe and Régis Pasquier.

It will have the task to judge a maximum of 30 candidates, who will perform in Genoa from October 17 to 18 at Palazzo Tursi, and later, from October 20 to 27 at Teatro Carlo Felice.

These two stages of the finals will include the performance of one of Mozart’s Concertos without a conductor, with the aim to evaluate more thoroughly the musical horizon of the competitors.

Now awarded every two years, the competition has seen a number of important changes: a new logo, an autonomous headquarters, a new organizational model, a new website, Instagram and Facebook social profiles — and the appointment of the "Paganini Ambassadors" of particular international importance who will work to promote the Award and the universal values of music in Italy and abroad.

Former first prize winners including Gyorgy Pauk, Gérard Poulet, Salvatore Accardo, Gidon Kremer, Ilya Grubert, Leonidas Kavakos, Ilya Gringolts, Sayaka Shoji, Ning Feng, and VC Artists Inmo Yang and Kevin Zhu.