Tassilo Probst (Germany), Valentin Serban (Romania), and Jaewon Wee (South Korea) have proceeded through to the Violin Final of the 2020/2021 George Enescu International Competition. The results have been announced on Monday evening by the Violin Section Jury, which includes Dmitry Sitkovetsky (President of the Jury), Remus Azoiței, Koichiro Harada, Silvia Marcovici, Mihaela Martin, Igor Petrushevski, Eduard Schmieder, and Krzysztof Wegrzyn.
Eight young violinists from six countries competed in the Semifinal that took place Monday, May 17, at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest: Gennaro Cardaropoli (Italy), Elvin Hoxha Ganiyev (Turkey/Azerbaijan), Jeewon Kim (South Korea), Tassilo Probst (Germany), Tomotaka Seki (Japan), Valentin Serban (Romania), Ayaka Uchio (Japan), and Jaewon Wee (South Korea).
The jury proceedings have followed a hybrid system: 6 members of the judging panel are in Bucharest and watched the semifinalists’ recitals live at the Romanian Athenaeum, while 2 others watched the performances of the young musicians live-streamed online.
Music lovers can attend or tune in for the Violin Final, which will take place Wednesday, May 19, at the Romanian Athenaeum, from 6:00 PM (EEST). The finalists will perform together with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of maestro Wilson Hermanto. In the Violin Final program, they will each perform a concerto for violin and orchestra: Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in D major Op. 35, Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor Op. 47, and Brahms Violin Concerto in D major Op.77.
Tassilo Probst (b. 2002) studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Professors Sonja Korkeala and Ingolf Turban. He plays a violin by Giovanni Grancino (Milan, 1690), a loan of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben. He won Second Prize at the International Louis Spohr Competition for Young Violinists in Weimar in 2019.
Valentin Șerban (b. 1990) previously graduated with bachelor’s studies at the Transilvania University in Brașov and attended his master’s studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, under the guidance of Silvia Marcovici. He has performed in Romania, France, Germany, Austria, and Italy. He has been a member of the Les Dissonances Orchestra in Paris since 2018 and a guest concertmaster of the Romanian Youth Orchestra.
Jaewon Wee (b. 1999) is currently a student of Juilliard’s Master of Music Degree program, studying with Ronald Copes. He graduated from the Korea National University of Arts, where she studied with Nam Yun Kim, Koichiro Harada, and Takashi Shimizu. She has performed at the Aspen Festival and the Busan International Festival. She won the Menuhin International Competition 2014 and the Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Musicians.
The total prize value for Violin Section is 30,000 euros, to which is added the privilege of performing on the Enescu Festival stage, as well as special prizes and opportunities for international promotion.
Tickets for the Violin Final, just like for all the other events of the Competition, can be purchased exclusively online: on the www.festivalenescu.ro website, through the Eventim platform, or directly on the Eventim website, via this link. Concerts can be attended in person, at the Athenaeum Hall, for which tickets cost 65 RON. Audience members can attend events with just their tickets, wearing a face mask and keeping physical distancing, as the number of seats to be occupied will not exceed 50% of the hall capacity. The organizers have also made tickets and subscriptions available for the online viewing of concerts and special recitals. These can be purchased here.
The 2020 George Enescu International Competition has seen its first phase unfold last year, fulfilling the promise to bring Beauty in Life despite the pandemic. The Competition reinvented itself online, marking a premiere in the world of international classical music – the first two rounds were held virtually, to allow the Competition to take place and defy the pandemic. Despite the uncertainty, 205 young artists were able to follow their dream and participate in the Competition between August 29 and September 20, 2020. The last two rounds – Semifinals and Finals – are organized live, in Bucharest, at the Romanian Athenaeum, between 12 and 23 May 2021, with audiences in the hall.
In 2020, the George Enescu International Competition offered much more than music and competition. The message of this edition is Beauty in Life, and, in the pandemic context, 2020/2021 George Enescu International Competition has set out to prove that we all have the power to reinvent ourselves while embracing equally beauty and life. In a troubled world, silenced and isolated by the pandemic, we have created a model of resilience based on our longing for beauty in life, vital to our humanity.
The campaign spot is accessible here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxuylvvHHWQ
The Competition’s full Program can be viewed here. All contestants who have taken part in the Semifinals of the three sections are listed on www.festivalenescu.ro, under the Results tab.
George Enescu Competition is an international platform for launching future world-class musicians and for promoting the compositions of the great Romanian composer to the new generation of artists from all over the world. It is thus a natural extension of the George Enescu Festival, the most important cultural event organized in Romania. The Competition has four sections – violin, cello, piano, and composition – and it ranks in the top five classical music competitions worldwide.
Press information: Oana Marinescu | [email protected] | tel: 0741 278 737
