Arthur Grumiaux


Baron Arthur Grumiaux was a Belgian violinist.

Early life

Born in the Belgian town of Villers-Perwin, on 21 March 1921, Grumiaux was only three years old when his grandfather urged him to begin music studies. He entered the conservatoire in Charleroi at the age of six; the normal entry age was eleven. He studied violin and piano there until the age of eleven, when he graduated and moved to the Royal Conservatoire in Brussels to study violin.

Career

He variously has been described as having made his debut in Brussels at the age of 14, or in 1935, although his debut is more commonly said to have occurred in 1940. This performance was made in Belgium with the Brussels Philharmonic playing Mendelssohn's concerto.
Due to the German invasion of his homeland, he next played publicly after liberation in 1945 with the Allied military entertainment organisation, making his London debut later that year. In 1949 he was appointed professor of violin at the Brussels Conservatoire where he had once studied. He debuted in the United States in Boston, in 1951, and toured the United States in the following year.
In 1973 he was created a baron by King Baudouin of Belgium for his services to music.

Death

He died of a sudden stroke in Brussels in 1986 at the age of 65.

Recordings

Grumiaux had a long-standing relationship with Philips Records, lasting more than 20 years, and recordings are available from them of him performing works by Handel, Bach, Vivaldi, Michael Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Bruch, Tchaikovsky, Henryk Wieniawski, and Johan Svendsen.
A recording of Grumiaux's performance of one movement from Bach's Sonatas & Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin, the "Gavotte en rondeaux" from the Partita No. 3, is included on the Voyager Golden Record, attached to the Voyager spacecraft, as a sample of the culture of Earth.

His violins

He owned a Guarneri, the "Rose", made by Giuseppe Guarneri in 1744, and played a Stradivarius, the "General Dupont”, made in 1727. He also owned the “Museum”, made by Giuseppe Guarneri in 1739, and the “Campoli”, made by Giovanni Guadagnini in 1773.

Violin Competition

The International Grumiaux Competition for Young Violinists is held annually and takes place at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in Belgium. It was first held in 2008 under the name of "Bravo", In 2015, the competition was renamed in honour of Arthur Grumiaux, and is now called Concours International Grumiaux pour Jeunes Violonistes.

History

The competition was created in 2008 by Igor Tkatchouk, a violin professor at the Institut Supérieur de Musique et de Pédagogie in Namur, originally under the name of "Bravo!" competition. It took place each year at the Institut and since 2017 in the Royal Conservatoire in Brussels. In 2015, the competition was supported by the foundation Baron Arthur Grumiaux and was renamed International Arthur Grumiaux Competition for Young Violinists. The same year, Princess Léa of Belgium rewarded the winners at the Royal Theater of Namur.
The competition is international and was represented in 2016 by 27 different nationalities
Since 2016 edition, Musiq'3 became the official partner of the project and in the same year, the Belgian TV news RTBF show a spot on television

Prize winners

There are four categories of prizes, based on the age of the performer: category A : through 10 years old, category B ages 11–13, category C ages 14–17, and category D ages 18–21.
Year1st Prize Cat A1st Prize Cat B1st Prize Cat C1st Prize Cat DSpecial Prize
2019 Himari Yoshimura
Nguyen Le Nguyen
Kai Gergov
Bianca Ciubancan
Naz Irem Turkmen
Kyota Kakiuchi Ayaka UchioSamuel Hirsch
2018 EunSeo Cho
SungWoo Lee
Viktor Vasiliev
Leonard Toschev
Pauline Van Der Rest
Michael Germer Emma GiboutMichael Germer
Ariel Horowitz
2017 Fiona Khuong-Huu
Ryota Nakamura

Yunci Kaelyn Soh
Georgii Moroz
Pal Laszlo Szomora
-Meurice Victorine
Georgii Moroz
2016 Bade Daştan Aliaksandra Arbuzava

Veronika Mona Bogic
Emiri Kobayashi

Ilgin Top
Yurina Arai Emiri Kobayashi

Avraham Tirfe

Bilal Alnemr
2015 NAKANO Lina

ÇATAKOĞLU Gökçe

KIM Theodore
KARLS Lorenz

FAULISI Luka
CARDAROPOLI Gennaro RIMBU Remus Spruit Charlotte

Lut Bilegtugs
2014 VAN DER REST Pauline

BLYUMIN Matviy

LIST Darya
SCHMÖLZER Eva Lucia

WAKAMATSU Hana Lucia
TING Belle Chang-Yuan DEBROEYER Quentin Belle Ting

Anne Friederike Greuner
2013 Cooreman Alexandra

Vasylieva Varvara

Yushkovskaya Maria
Walder Julian

Pashchenko Snezhana
Ibrahimova Aytan

Durand-Rivière Suzanne
Šroubková Olga

Michaluk Maxime
-
2012 von Albertini Emilia

Voisin Morgane
Csikos Anett Girard Grégoire--
2011 Lozakovitj Daniel- Willem Floris

Decamps Sarah

Seyidova Jeyla
--
2010 Guo Linda Egorovs Andrels

Martynov Fedor
---
2009 Boschkor Laras

Kuzmina Alexandra
Levy Maya Grauman Marina Managadze-Postnikova Nikolai-
2008 Csikos Anett Csikos Vilmos Lee Jae-Eun--

Jury 2019

  1. Mr. Igor Tkatchouk - Belgium - President of the jury
  2. Mrs Dora Schwarzberg - Austria
  3. Mrs Shirly Laub – Belgium
  4. Mrs Tetiana Zolozova - France
  5. Mr. Roman Fedchuk - Czech Rep
  6. Mr. George Tudorache - Belgium
  7. Mr. Muhammedjan Turdiev - Turkey

    Previous years

  8. Alexei Moshkov – Belgium
  9. Anna Sundin – Sweden
  10. Anne Léonardo – Belgium
  11. Dora Schwarzberg – Austria
  12. Guido Jardon - Belgium
  13. Jean-Frédéric Molard – Belgium
  14. Luba Aroutiounian – Belgium
  15. Michel Poskin – Belgium
  16. Muhammedjan Turdiev – Turkey
  17. Nina Nazymova – France
  18. Philippe Descamps – Belgium
  19. Roman Fedchuk – Czech Republic
  20. Saveliy Shalman – Russia
  21. Shirly Laub – Belgium
  22. Tatiana Samouil – Belgium
  23. Tetiana Zolozova – France
  24. Ulysse Waterlot – Belgium
  25. Valery Oistrakh – Belgium
  26. Igor Tkatchouk – Belgium