Violinists from 15 countries to perform in the Wieniawski Competition

Poland will be represented by ten violinists, Japan by nine, and South Korea by four.

Other entrants come from, among others, Canada, the United States, Ukraine, Israel, Germany, Russia, China, Georgia and France.

They have been selected by the chairman of the competition jury, world famous violinist and conductor Maxim Vengerov, from amongst over 250 applicants representing over fifty countries.

The event opens on 8 October with a concert by Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Krzysztof Penderecki, with South Korea’s Soyoung Yoon, winner of the 2011 Competition, as the soloist in Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D major Op. 61.

Held for the first time in Warsaw in 1935, the Wieniawski Competition is the world’s oldest violin competition. It moved to Poznań after a lapse of 17 years and has been held in that city since 1952, usually every five years.

Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880) was a child prodigy, who entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of eight. He is regarded as one of the greatest violinists after Paganini. His compositional output includes two violin concertos, mazurkas, polonaises, etudes and caprices. (mk/rg)