Hannover's Joseph Joachim Violin Competition Announces New Set of Rules

The Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition, in Hannover, has announced a number of rule and condition changes for its 2021 competition

The Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition, in Hannover, Germany, has this week announced a number of rule and condition changes for its 2021 competition - regarding its jury, schedule and prizes.

The announcement comes following a number of nepotism allegations were leveled at the competition’s former long-standing Artistic Director, Krzysztof Wegrzyn – during the 2018 competition.

“We would like to embed the competition into the current requirements posed by the international concert scene ... our goal is to offer participants a forum for their journey towards an active career as performing musicians ...” the newly appointed Co-Artistic Directors, Antje Weithaas and Oliver Wille have this week said.

“With changes in requirements and a new jury structure, the Joseph Joachim Violin Competition will aim to attract more mature violinists ... and bring the event closer to actual concert life,” they have said.

The new structure for the 2021 competition will see 35 participants accepted into the competitions' opening live round, with 10 candidates progressing to the Semi-Final stage - and 4 to the Final round.

The pre-selection for the 2021 competition will be conducted by the string section leaders of the NDR Radiophilharmonie.

More than 20 leading European presenters, including representatives from the Konzerthaus Berlin, Tonhalle Zurich and Camerata Bern, will attend the Final Round of the competition and choose a performer of their own choice for an engagement with their ensemble.

The 2021 jury, will be made up of 5 violinists and 4 members from the concert-related fields: Ana Chumachenco, Suyoen Kim, David Takeno, Donald Weilerstein, Carolin Widmann, Eleonore Büning, Robert Levin, Andrew Manze and Christine Schäfer.

The Co-Artistic Directors will not be part of the 2021 jury.

The upper age limit for the competition will also now been raised to 32.

Each of the four 2021 finalists will receive €10,000 each - with one single participant to be awarded the new 'Joseph Joachim' Prize, in the amount of €30,000.