Prizewinners Announced at the 2023 Oskar Nedbal Viola Competition

Violists Héloise Houzé, Maria Rallo Muguruza, and Duleen van Gunsteren were named the competition's laureates

The fifth edition of the Czech Republic's Oskar Nedbal Viola Competition has recently come to a close. 95 violists under the age of thirty, who hailed from 32 different countries, applied to take part in the event. Following a recorded first round, 18 players were selected to proceed to the live rounds.

Duleen Van Gunsteren (Netherlands), Héloïse Houzé (France), Maria Rallo Muguruza (Spain), and Xunyu Zhou (China) were chosen to progress to the final round, where they performed either the Stamitz or the Hoffmeister Viola Concerto alongside the Pilsner Philharmonic and conductor Chuhei Iwasaki.

Second Prize of 30,000 CZK was won by Héloise Houzé (b. 2001, France), while Third Prize of 20,000 CZK went to Maria Rallo Muguruza (b. 1996, Spain) and Duleen van Gunsteren (b. 1995, the Netherlands). No first prize was awarded.

As part of their prize, all laureates also received a fine bow made by Luboš Odlas, a GEWA viola case of their own choosing, and Perpetual and Evah Pirazzi Gold strings, rosins, or a Korfker Rest made by Pirastro.

The jury comprised the competition director, violist Kristina Fialová, Tim Frederiksen (Denmark), Peter Bársony (Hungary), Jan Pěruška (Czech Republic), and Lech Antonio Uszynski (Italy/Switzerland).

"I could not be happier with the world-wide interest and plentiful participation in event exclusively for violists," said Kristina Fialová, the competition’s director and founder. "For the second time we had the final together with orchestra. All our finalists really enjoyed it, not only because it was their first experience to perform solo concert with orchestra."