Prize Winners of Tokyo Classic Violin Competition Announced

The march towards the inaugural Classic Violin Olympus International Competition continues to move ever swifter, with the Japanese capital of Tokyo seeing the first of the competition’s six global preselection contests taking place between the 17th and the 21st of March 2024. 

Hosted at the famed Geidai (Tokyo University of the Arts), this event marked the most concrete progression yet in Classic Violin Olympus’s history, with the first two official participants of the competition finally being unveiled. 

As a small reminder, Classic Violin Olympus, which shall be coming to Dubai, UAE, from the 22nd to the 28th of April 2025, is an invite-only event that can only be accessed through participation in one of its preselection contests. Held in six of the world’s music centres, these preliminary events only allow a maximum of 20 participants each, with the two top-ranked violinists of each contest then being given the opportunity to put their abilities to the test in the Grand Finale itself. 

After being selected through an initial video audition phase, the 20 contestants of the Tokyo Classic Violin Competition took to the stage in front of an esteemed 5 person jury board consisting of Jury Chairman Pavel Vernikov (Switzerland), as well as Bin Huang (USA), Min Kim (South Korea), Natsumi Tamai (Japan), and Qian Zhou (Singapore). Across the competition’s five days, each violinist presented a number of varied works from a programme that has been specifically designed to shine a light on all aspects of their skillset. 

For the initial round the candidates were first required to perform one of Niccolò Paganini 24 caprices of their choice, followed by the first movement from one of a predetermined list of concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and then the Violin Sonata from the pens of contemporary composers Alexey Shor and Mikhail Pletnev. For those who progressed to the Second Round, the repertoire then became far more flexible, with each violinist being allowed to choose their programme freely as long as it included one virtuoso piece for violin with piano or violin solo, and was no longer, or shorter, than 30-40 minutes respectively. 

After all the performances were completed, the jury came to their final decisions, with Soyoung Yoon being awarded the First Prize, Andrey Baranov taking home the Second Prize, and Meng Zou coming in third. 

This means that, in addition to taking their share of the €35,000 prize fund that was on offer – with Yoon winning €20,000, Baranov taking €10,000, and Zou leaving with €5,000 – both Yoon and Baranov have now also won eligibility to participate in Classic Violin Olympus, with all expenses paid, making them the two first official finalists. 

Now, all eyes turn to Vienna, where the second preselection event is soon set to take place. Coming to the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna from the 1st to the 5th of April 2024, the official list of candidates for this contest has already been announced, which means that all is left is to see who of them will be able to impress the jury and win the next two slots for the Grand Finale. 

For all the latest details, make sure to follow the official website at classicviolinolympus.com, as we continue the countdown to one of the biggest new events that the world of strings has seen in years!