Classical Music News

BREAKING | Senior Finalists Announced at Menuhin Competition Richmond 2021

By The Violin Channel

May 16, 2021

4 MIN READ

The final round for the senior division will be streamed on The Violin Channel on May 22 at 7:30 PM ET

This year's senior finalists are:

Karisa Chiu (21, United States)
Hana Chang (18, Singapore/Japan/United States)
María Dueñas (18, Spain)
Simon Zhu (20, Germany)

For the final round, recorded virtually, each of the 4 senior finalists will perform, with piano, the first movement from either Lalo's 'Symphonie Espagnole', Mendelssohn's E Minor Concerto, Saint-Saens' 3rd Concerto or Wieniawski's 2nd Concerto, plus the 2nd movement from a Mozart Violin Concerto and a short piece of their own choice.

"I wanted to simulate a live event as much as possible," Competition Artistic Director Gordon Back this week told The Violin Channel.

"I didn’t want the performances edited because they could potentially take 100 go’s and cut in the best ones. They had to do it in one complete performance. We had a clock there, so we could check that it was being done live and within the timings. There was also a proctor there to prove it was actually that competitor playing.

"For the finals, I added the second movement of a Mozart concerto of their choice because when I played in Indianapolis, I remembered the words of Joseph Gingold who said, ‘You can tell more in the first four bars of a Mozart concerto than anything about somebody playing, especially in the slow movement,'" Gordon said.

This year's jury is comprised of violinist Pamela Frank (Chair), violinist and conductor Joji Hattori (Vice-Chair), violinist and entrepreneur Aaron Dworkin, pianist Piers Lane, violinists Soyoung Yoon, VC Artists Noah Bendix-Balgley and Angelo Xiang Yu, violinist, conductor, and educator Alf Richard Kraggerud, and conductor and Music Director of the Richmond Symphony, Valentina Peleggi.

The first prize winner of this year's senior division will receive USD $20,000 and a 2-year loan of a golden period Stradivarius violin from the private collection of Jonathan Moulds CBE courtesy of the Beare’s International Violin Society plus a bow made by Christophe Landon.

As a competition official media partner, all rounds will be streamed on The Violin Channel. You won't miss a beat.

Full competition and festival schedule available at: www.2021.menuhincompetition.org/program-tickets