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The Joseph Joachim Competition announces its Winners

January 1st, 1879, reknown violinist Joseph Joachim premiered the Brahms Violin Concerto at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, with Brahms himself conducting. A fact that makes the work a signature piece of the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition in Hannover, and a natural choice for the 2021 winner Maria Ioudenitch, a Russian- born American violinist, currently studying with Miriam Fried at the New England Conservatory. Five weeks earlier, she played the same piece- the Brahms Violin Concerto- at the final of the Tibor Varga Intl. Violin Competition in Sion, Switzerland, and won the first prize as well. While her playing was convincing back then, orchestra and hall were no match for the NDR Radio- philharmonie and its conductor Andrew Manze, who played exceptionally well throughout the final. Along with the Brahms Concerto, a commissioned piece for solo violin by German Composer Manfred Trojahn had to be performed- not an easy task before a major concerto.

But then, nothing was easy in this competition: besides the romantic concerto in the final round, a Mozart Concerto had to be played with Camerata Bern, without conductor. A Haydn Quartet movement had to be performed on short notice with members of the Kuss Quartet. A carte blanche recital had to be given along with a written program note on a theme set by the competition.

Finalists Joachim
Minami Yoshida
Chiara Sannicandro
Javier Comesana

 "The new and difficult thing is to show oneself from many different sides. You cannot be equally good in all these different disciplines, and the difficulty is now for the jury to make a decision, having gained many different impressions of each artist” says Oliver Wille, violinist of the Kuss Quartet and Co-Artistic Director of the competition along with Antje Weithaas. The competition ́s goal was not to find one artist who is able to play a certain repertoire exceptionally well, but rather musicians who have gained experience in a variety of situations. Who are able to lead a chamber orchestra, for instance, and who are able to master the challenges of leading a string quartet. In the end, there is not only one winner: all finalists are called laureates and receive an award of EUR 10.000. "It is not important to play five violin concertos, perfectly, and the same way every night!" says Carolin Widman, Chair of the jury. But she also remarks: "maybe we are all wrong and in 20 years someone will become famous who got cut in the first round! At this point, I might say that I myself didn ́ t make it past the first round in this competition, 21 years ago, and I know exactly know what it feels like!".

For more on the Joseph Joachim Competition, please read the WFIMC interview with Eleonore Büning “Professional Listener”.

Winners:
Joseph Joachim Prize: Maria Ioudenitch (25, USA)
Finalist Awards:  Maria Ioudenitch, Chiara Sannicandro, Javier Comesaña  and Minami Yoshida
Guadagnini Violin:Javier Comesaña 
Warner Prize: Maria Ioudenitch
Henle Prize: Maria Ioudenitch
Commission Prize: Maria Ioudenitch
Chamber Prize: Maria Ioudenitch
Audience Award: Chiara Sannicandro

Conductor: Andrew Manze
Orchestra: NDR Radiophilharmonie, Hannover

Jury: Carolin Widman (Chair), Eleonore Büning, Ana Chumachenko, Suyoen Kim, Robert Levin, Andrew Manze, Christine Schäfer, Zohrab Tadevosyan, Ulf Wallin, Donald Weilerstein

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