BREAKING | Prizes Awarded at Vienna’s 2018 Kreisler International Violin Competition

25-year-old Milan Al-Ashhab has been awarded 1st prize at the 2018 Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition

25-year-old Milan Al-Ashhab from the Czech Republic has been awarded 1st prize at the 2018 Fritz Kreisler International Violin Competition – in Vienna, Austria.

A graduate of the Teplice Conservatory and the Prague Academy of Music, where he studied with Ivan Štraus, Květoslava Hradilová and Peter Schuhmayer, Milan is a former major prize winner at the Kocian, Telemann and Spohr International Violin Competitions.

2nd and 3rd prizes were awarded to: 18-year-old Alice Lee from Canada and 18-year-old Paul Kropfitsch from Austria.

3rd, 4th and 5th prizes were awarded to: 28-year-old Soo-Hyun Park from South Korea, 25-year-old Natsumi Tsuboi from Japan and 15-year-old Rino Yoshimoto from Japan.

Open to violinists of any nationality aged 29 years or younger who are ready to embark on an international career, Milan will receive USD $13,000, a solo performance invitation with the Vienna Philharmonic – plus a number of important concert engagements and CD recording opportunities.

Previous major prize winners include: VC Artists William Hagen, Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Nikita Boriso-Glebsky and Sergey Khachatryan

The 2018 jury comprised: Xiang Chen, Roland Daugareil, Erich Gruenberg, Clemens Hellsberg, Joseph  Kim, Yair Kless, Sergey Kravchenko, Machie Oguri, Jan Pospichal, Dora Schwarzberg, Ulf Wallin and Laurie Smukler.