13th International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition
Poznań, 14-29 October 2006
Watch a documentary - Competition Chronicle:
... and two more films - prize giving ceremony and gala concert:
The day after the competition in 2001 preparations for the next, 13th competition, started at the Henryk Wieniawski Society. One thing was certain: the jury should be chaired by a great artist, a world renowned virtuoso, friendly to competition rivalry. At the same time—open to compromises with the organizers as regards the programme and regulations. But the organizers spent too much time on attempts to achieve their ambitions and to find someone who would meet their expectations. It was in mid 2005 when Prof. Konstanty Andrzej Kulka, one of the most eminent Polish musicians, a violinist, soloist and chamber musician, and a teacher decided to assume this great responsibility. He has been involved in H. Wieniawski Competitions for nearly 40 years, although he himself had never competed for the main prize. In one of his interviews when asked whether he still experienced stage fright identical to that he experienced during his first night performance he said: “I am always worried whether I will remember everything, whether I will play the way I would like to play. But I am more at ease when it comes to the Competition. Although it is a first for me in my capacity as jury chair, I have great confidence in the excellent professionals, both jurors and organizers”. The organizers heaved a sigh of relief; particularly that ever since December 2003 the Henryk Wieniawski Society has had a new sponsor—the Grażyna and Jan Kulczyk Foundation. Preliminary budget estimates, prepared early enough and approved, guaranteed an inflow of state and local funds.
Over 100 musicians from all over the world applied to participate in the Competition. This was the effect of good and effective promotion: information, programmes, and billboards found their right destinations, particularly in music schools, on time. The balance between the pieces composed by H. Wieniawski and other composers has been restored. Competition entrants had to play Wieniawski’s music at every stage. Prof. Kulka has personally watched and listened to over one hundred VHS tapes and accepted less than half of the musicians. Perhaps this first screening was too harsh. Because of the record number of nearly 20 international violin competitions in the world in 2006 only 32 persons (instead of an expected 40-45) appeared on stage in Poznań. The proportion between the number of foreign and Polish musicians was also affected. The jurors decided to award the first prize of the 13th H. Wieniawski Violin Competition to a Polish musician, a special talent, refined in the schools of two twinned cities—Poznań and Hanover.
The two weeks of rivalry between the young virtuosos were opened by the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields conducted by Neville Marriner and closed by Sinfonia Varsovia with Maxim Vengerov. The first performance of the famous violinist in Poznań stirred the imagination of many a competition host. Perhaps it is Maxim Vengerov who will open a truly new chapter of the Wieniawski Violin Competition in 2011?
source: R. Połczyński, Da Capo. 75 lat Międzynarodowych Konkursów im. Henryka Wieniawskiego
Read more about the 13th Competition (PDF, 0.99 MB) >
A poster w 13th edition of Wieniawski Violin Competition designed by I. Morski.
JURY
MEMBERS
Chairman: Konstanty Andrzej Kulka
Eduard Grach
Ida
Haendel
Koichiro Harada
Marina Yashvili
Wolfgnag Marschner
Bartek Nizioł
Igor
Ozim
Zlatko Stahuljak
Wanda Wiłkomirska
Lina Yu
Grigori Zhyslin
PRIZE WINNERS
1st prize: Agata
SZYMCZEWSKA (Poland
)
2nd prize: Airi SUZUKI (Japan
)
3rd prize: Anna
Maria STAŚKIEWICZ (Poland)
4th prize: Lev SOLODOVNIKOV (Russia
)
5th
prize: Maria MACHOWSKA (Poland), Jarosław NADRZYCKI (Poland
)
6th
prize: Wojciech PŁAWNER (Poland)
Award: Simeon KLIMASHEVSKIY (Russia)
