Applications for the 2023 Bartók World Competition to open soon

The Bartók World Competition, which takes place in six-year cycles, has reached a new milestone in 2023: after the first cycle ended with last year’s competition for composers, the Liszt Academy welcomes applications for violinists for this year’s round, as it did at the start of the series in 2017.

Starting from February 20, the Academy awaits the application of musical talents under the age of 30 on bartokworldcompetition.hu. The event will take place between September 2 and 10 with the support of the Hungarian government. Based on the video recordings submitted by each applicant, the preselection jury – consisting of renowned professors of the Liszt Academy –, will select maximum thirty contestants who will advance to the live rounds of the competition. The preliminaries, the semifinals, the final as well as the gala concert and award ceremony will be open to the public and streamed online.

The members of the prestigious international jury presiding over the live rounds of the competition are: German violinist Stephan Picard, professor at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin; American violinist Daniel Phillips, professor at The Juilliard School in New York; Ukrainian–British violist-conductor Maxim Rysanov, who lives in Hungary; French violinist Roland Daugareil, professor at the Conservatoire de Paris and concertmaster of the Orchestre de Paris until 2021; as well as Japanese violinist Yayoi Toda. The Hungarian members of the panel are: Kossuth Prize-winning violinist Kristóf Baráti, head of the Strings Department at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music; Gyula Fekete, Erkel and Bartók–Pásztory Prize-winning composer, head of the Composition Department and Vice-President of the university; conductor Péter Halász, music director at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf; as well as András Keller, Kossuth Prize-winning violinist-conductor, music director of Concerto Budapest.

The winner of the first prize will be awarded 22,000 euros; the second prize comes with a monetary award of 14,000 euros, while the third prize is accompanied by an award of 8,000 euros. In addition, the jury may award special prizes, including invitations to perform.

The compulsory repertoire focuses on Bartók’s most important pieces for violin, but contestants are also required to demonstrate their skills by playing works by Bach, Paganini, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Schubert, Mozart, Beethoven, Prokofiev, Brahms, Debussy, Lutosławski or Stravinsky, among others. In addition, contestants must perform one of the two award-winning works from last year’s round for composers: the composition of Veljko Nenadić entitled “Two Movements – Impromptu and Perpetuum Mobile”, or a piece by Thomas Kornél, entitled “Fun-tasto: Reflection and Exhilaration.”

Finalists must perform one of the following works: Violin Concerto No. 1 or No. 2 by Bartók, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, Brahms’s Violin Concerto in D major or Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major. The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of conductor János Kovács, will accompany the contestants in the finals.

Further information and all details may be found at bartokworldcompetition.hu.