International Violin Competition Henri Marteau

Foundation, responsibility and cooperation

The 125th birthday of the German-French violinist and composer Henri Marteau in 1999 inspired the "Freundeskreis der Musikbegegnungsstätte Haus Marteau e.V." to found the competition and to hold it in 2002 and 2005. In 2007, the District of Upper Franconia under its president Günther Denzler took over the responsibility. Since then the artistic and general coordination is assigned to the orchestra Hofer Symphoniker. The competition became a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions in April 2012.

Idea and promotion

The goals of the competition are to encourage highly skilled young musicians aged under 25 on their way to an international career and to underline the importance of musical education for young people, to contribute to international understanding and to enable the exchange between young talented musicians and renowned violinists and violin professors. The competition tries also to recollect the name and work of Henri Marteau, who always endeavored to support his students.

The competition promotes young musicians by providing cash and non-cash awards and by providing a subsequent support program which includes scholarships, the procurement of debut concerts and a broadcast production with the Bayerischer Rundfunk, which is the media partner of the competition and an ideal platform for the performances of the young musicians through an intense media coverage.

Application: special feature

The competition is open for violinists of all nationalities aged under 25 with the exception of students of the jury members:

Students of our competitions jury members are not eligible to participate. A student is someone who received tuition from a jury member between October 2016 and April 2017 or prior to the competition for a period exceeding six months. Violinists who participate in a master class held by a jury member between January 2017 and April 2017 are also not eligible to participate in the competition.

Commissioned works

Since 2011, the competition commissions works as required pieces for the participants. In 2011, renowned Turkish composer and pianist Fazıl Say created Cleopatra op. 34 for solo violin. For the 2014 competition, American composer Steven Mackey was commissioned; he created Repeated Notes for solo violin. For 2017, German/Danish composer Søren Nils Eichberg is commissioned.

Jury

Chairman of the jury and artistic advisor of the competition is the conductor Gilbert Varga, son of the famous Hungarian violinist Tibor Varga and from 1980 to 1985 chief conductor of the Hofer Symphoniker. The 2017 jury will consist of highly respected violinists/violin professors from all over the world:

Procedure

Traditionally the International Violin Competition Henri Marteau opens with an opening concert performed by laureates of the former competitions.

The competition is split into three rounds. The participants play in front of the prestigious jury works for violin, soloistic, with piano accompaniment and in the final accompanied by orchestra. The first round and the semifinal take place at Haus Marteau in Lichtenberg. The final, where a great violin concerto is required, is held together with the symphony orchestra Hofer Symphoniker at the Freiheitshalle in Hof.

The competition closes with a celebratory gala concert of the laureates and the Hofer Symphoniker at the Freiheitshalle Hof.

Prizes

The prizes to be awarded have a total amount of 35.000 Euro (~40.000 USD): 1st prize 10.000 Euro, 2nd prize 7.500 Euro, 3rd prize 5.000 Euro. Additionally, there are numerous special prizes, also supplied with money (500 to 1.000 Euro), scholarships for master classes, the loan of a copy of the Maggini violin of Henri Marteau for three years, a broadcast production with the Bayerischer Rundfunk followed by a CD release and concert engagements.

Laureates

The first laureates of the former competitions were:

Category A (born after December 31, 1987)

Category B (born between January 1, 1980 and December 31, 1987)

Category A (born after December 31, 1984)

Category B (born between January 1, 1977 and December 31, 1984)

Honorary Committee

The Honorary Committee, consisting of characters of culture, politics and economy, attends the competition spiritually and deliberatively. They are: