Kendall National Violin Competition honours local luthier's legacy through UK craftsman

ABC Mid North Coast Report

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Kendall National Violin Competition Prize-Winners

 

Following a weekend of captivating and inspiring performances from some of Australia’s most promising violinists in Kendall, NSW, the Kendall National Violin Competition has announced prize-winners of its 22nd national violin competition.

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The competition was held in two categories. Seven prizes were awarded including a first prize of a concert violin made by master luthier Michal Prokop from Australian timbers bequeathed to him by the late Graham Caldersmith OAM.

 

Goetz Richter, Artistic Director of the competition commented on the exceptional standard of performance throughout and reflected on comments following the competition by eminent judges Prof. Michele Walsh, Fintan Murphy and Sun Roh, herself a finalist of the first Kendall National Violin Competition in 1999. “These finalists compelled the audience to listen and pay attention to their vision of music”. Richter said. “Performers of this power of imagination and conviction are exceptionally rare, anywhere..”

 

The competition proceeded through three rounds with semi-final performances in Sydney in December 2022 providing the launching pad for the ultimate performance in Kendall.

 

The recitals of the finalists in category B also featured premier performances of the Sonata No 1 (Temperamental) by Tim Doubinski, winner of the competition’s Watermark 2022 Composition Prize which was a compulsory work all performers all finalists in that category had to perform.

 

The competition in category A (Violinists born after January 1 2004) featured three exceptional young musicians and was won by the charismatic Brisbane Violinist Ein Na. “The imagination and intuition these three very young violinists brought to the task in performing with a string orchestra is simply stunning”, Goetz Richter, Artistic director of the competition said, “In the decades of this competition, these young musicians truly stand out.”

 

The full results of the competition are:

 

Category A (Violinists born after January 1 2004)

First Prize: A Concert Violin to the value of AU$15,000 Made by Master Luthier Michal Prokop (Graham Caldersmith OAM Award) – Ein Na

Second Prize: AU$2,000 (Richard Pollett Award) & Audience Prize: AU$750 (kindly sponsored by Gil Appleton) -  Jessica Ma

Third Prize: AU$1,000 (Joan Levy Award) – Hannah Kim

 

Category B (Violinists born after January 1 1997 and before January 1 2004)

First Prize: AU$8,500 (Signe Elizabeth Bohn Award) & Audience Prize: AU$750 – Beatrice Colombis 

Second Prize: AU$3,000 (Joan Levy Award) – Andrew Wang

Third Prize: AU$1,500 (Peter Lee Award) – David Carreon

Fourth Prize: AU$1,000 – Jimmy Park

Read about the finalists