Paganini Competition


The Paganini Competition is an international violin competition named after the famed virtuoso and founder of contemporary violin technique Niccolò Paganini. Created in 1954 it has been carried out ever since in the months of September and October. The "Paganini Competition" is one of the most important violin competitions. It is held every two years at "Carlo Felice" theatre in Genoa, Italy. There are three levels of competition: preliminaries, semi-finals, and finals and repertoire that is played includes solo violin, violin and piano accompaniment, and violin and orchestra.

Participation

Participants are of all nationalities and are between 15 and 31 years of age.

Competition

Preliminaries: Preliminary repertoire includes two selections for solo violin or violin and piano accompaniment and two Caprices from Paganini's 24 Caprices, Op.1 M.S. 25 for solo violin.
Semi-Finals: Three or four selections for solo violin or violin and piano, one virtuoso piece by Paganini, and one contemporary piece.
Finals: Two pieces with orchestra that may be a whole concerto or part of a concerto. One of the two pieces is always by Paganini.

The Judges

There are eight judges. They are all musicians, usually violinists, but sometimes composers, conductors, or other musicians.
Controversy ensued prior to the 2018 competition when, in February 2018, Fabio Luisi resigned as chairman of the competition, in protest at his perceived imposition of judges by the Italian cultural official Elisa Serafini.

Award

Six musicians place, though occasionally seven have been awarded the prize. Since 1989 special placement has been awarded. It is no longer possible to be joint winners. The player selected by the judges, however, will be given the honor of playing one of Paganini's violins and one of the most known violin owned by Paganini, the Il Cannone made by Guarneri 'Del Gesu', and is often offered recording contracts.

Special awards

Winners

YearWinnerCountry
1956György Pauk
1956Gérard Poulet
1957Carmencita Lozada
1958Salvatore Accardo
1959Stuart Canin
1961Emil Kamilarov
1962Maryvonne Le Dizes
1963Oleh Krysa
1964Jean-Jacques Kantorow
1965Viktor Pikaizen
1967Grigori Zhislin
1968Miriam Fried
1969Gidon Kremer
1971Mose Sekler
1972Eugene Fodor
1973Alexander Kramarov
1975Yuri Korchinski
1976Lenuţa Ciulei
1977Ilya Grubert
1978Eugen Sârbu
1979Florin Paul
1981Ilya Kaler
1985Dmitri Berlinsky
1987Lu Siqing
1988Leonidas Kavakos
1989Vasko Vasilev
1990Natalia Prischepenko
1991Massimo Quarta
1992Julia Krasko
1993Isabelle Faust
1994Bin Huang
1996Soovin Kim
1997Giovanni Angeleri
1998Ilya Gringolts
1999Sayaka Shoji
2000Natalia Lomeiko/
2001Mariusz Patyra
2002Mengla Huang
2006Feng Ning
2015In Mo Yang
2018Kevin Zhu

Breakdown of winners and finalists by nationality

11
4
3
3
3
3
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2

44
37
27
25
20
13
12
12
9
9
8
7
6
3
3
3
3
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

Highest number of prizes held (minimum 3)

Giovanni Angeleri 7 prizes
Eijin Nimura 5 prizes
Yuki Manuela Janke 4 prizes
Jean-Pierre Wallez 4 prizes
In Mo Yang 4 prizes
Ilya Gringolts 3 prizes
Mengla Huang 3 prizes
Stephanie Jeong 3 prizes
Dami Kim 3 prizes
Feng Ning 3 prizes
Mariusz Patyra 3 prizes
Gabriele Pieranunzi 3 prizes
Sayaka Shoji 3 prizes
Reiko Watanabe 3 prizes

Past prize-winners

I Edition - 1954

not assigned

II Edition - 1955

1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize: not assigned
3rd Prize: Luciano Vicari
4th Prize : Liliane Beretti and Jean Louis Stuurop

III Edition - 1956

1st Prize : György Pauk and Gérard Poulet
2nd Prize: not assigned
3rd Prize: not assigned
4th Prize : Carmencita Lozada, Luciano Vicari and Jean-Pierre
Wallez

IV Edition - 1957

1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize : Salvatore Accardo and Pierre Doukan
4th Prize: Jean-Pierre Wallez
5th Prize: not assigned
6th Prize: not assigned

V Edition - 1958

1st Prize: Salvatore Accardo
2nd Prize: Jean-Pierre Wallez
3rd Prize: not assigned
4th Prize: not assigned
5th Prize: not assigned
6th Prize: not assigned

VI Edition - 1959

1st Prize: Stuart Canin
2nd Prize: Sigfried Gawriloff
3rd Prize: Liliane Caillon
4th Prize: Catherine Courtois
5th Prize: Eleonora Dell'Aquila
6th Prize: Johannes Brüning

VII Edition - 1960

1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize : Jean-Pierre Wallez and Yossef Zivoni
4th Prize: Gigino Maestri
5th Prize: not assigned
6th Prize: Josef Sivo

VIII Edition - 1961

1st Prize: Emil Kamilarov
2nd Prize : Elaine Skorodin and Carmencita Lozada
4th Prize : Bice Antonioni and Paulette Bedin
6th Prize: not assigned

IX Edition - 1962

1st Prize: Maryvonne The Dizes
2nd Prize: Etsuko Hirose
3rd Prize: Liliane Caillon
4th Prize: Marilyn Dubow
5th Prize: not assigned
6th Prize: not assigned

X Edition - 1963

1st Prize: Oleh Krysa
2nd Prize: Valentin Zuk
3rd Prize: Shizuko Ishii
4th Prize: Paul Zukofsky
5th Prize: Diana Cummings
6th Prize: Igor Politkovsky

XI Edition - 1964

1st Prize: Jean-Jacques Kantorow
2nd Prize : Pierre Amoyal and Yoko Kubo
4th Prize : Hisako Tokue and Tomotada Soh
6th Prize: Antoine Goulard

XII Edition - 1965

1st Prize: Viktor Pikaizen
2nd Prize: Philippe Hirschhorn
3rd Prize: Andrei Korsakov
4th Prize: Yoko Kubo
5th Prize : Elisabeth Balmas, Joshua Epstein and Jacques Israelievitch

XIII Edition - 1966

1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize: Robert Menga
3rd Prize: Isako Shinozaki
4th Prize: not assigned
5th Prize : Nicolai Marangosof and Kineko Okumura

XIV Edition - 1967

1st Prize: Grigori Zhislin
2nd Prize: Vladimir Spivakov
3rd Prize: Patrice Fontanarosa
4th Prize: Petar Delcev
5th Prize: Sergio Diacenko
6th Prize: Mikhail Gantwarg

XV Edition - 1968

1st Prize: Miriam Fried
2nd Prize: Hamao Fujiwara
3rd Prize: Gabriella Ijac
4th Prize: Petar Delcev
5th Prize: Masako Yanagita
6th Prize: Emmanuel Krivine

XVI Edition - 1969

1st Prize: Gidon Kremer
2nd Prize: Kathleen Lenski
3rd Prize: Joshua Epstein
4th Prize: Isidora Schwarzberg
5th Prize: Sergey Kravchenko
6th Prize: Josef Rissin
7th Prize: Adam Korniszewski

XVII Edition - 1970

1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize: Mintcho Mintchev
3rd Prize : Thomas Goldschmidt Egel and Michał Grabarczyk
5th Prize: Adam Korniszewski
6th Prize: Keiko Wataya

XVIII Edition - 1971

1st Prize: Mose Sekler
2nd Prize: Bogodar Kotorovych
3rd Prize: Roswitha Randacher
4th Prize: Tadeusz Gadzina
5th Prize: Elvira Nakipbecova
6th Prize: Maria Balint

XIX Edition - 1972

1st Prize: Eugene Fodor
2nd Prize: Yoko Sato
3rd Prize: Gerardo Ribeiro
4th Prize: Georgi Tilev
5th Prize: Teresa Glabowna
6th Prize: not assigned

XX Edition - 1973

1st Prize: Alexander Kramarov
2nd Prize: Yuval Yaron
3rd Prize: Vania Milanova
4th Prize: Sungil Lee
5th Prize: Giuliano Carmignola and Stefan Stalanowski

XXI Edition - 1974

1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize : Lynn Chang and Eugen Sârbu
4th Prize: Rasma Lielmane
5th Prize: Josif Rissin
6th Prize: Jean-Claude Velin
7th Prize: Marie-France Pouillot

XXII Edition - 1975

1st Prize: Yuri Korchinski
2nd Prize: Petru Csaba
3rd Prize: not assigned
4th Prize: not assigned
5th Prize: not assigned
6th Prize : Mark Fornaciari and Anna Aleksandra Wodka

XXIII Edition - 1976

1st Prize: Lenuţa Ciulei
2nd Prize: Karen Eley
3rd Prize: Vladimir Nemţeanu
4th Prize: Fudeko Takahashi
5th Prize: Joanna Madroszkiewicz
6th Prize: not assigned

XXIV Edition - 1977

1st Prize: Ilya Grubert
2nd Prize: Sachiko Nakajima
3rd Prize: Yumi Mohri
4th Prize: Edward Zienkowski
5th Prize: Alexey Bruni
6th Prize: Ola Rudner

XXV Edition - 1978

1st Prize: Eugen Sârbu
2nd Prize : Karen Eley and Piotr Milewski
4th Prize: Takashi Shimitzu
5th Prize: Berthilde Dufour
6th Prize: Daniel Stabrawa

XXVI Edition - 1979

1st Prize: Florin Paul
2nd Prize: Yuriko Naganuma
3rd Prize: Alexis Galpérine
4th Prize: Mariko Senju
5th Prize: Rodolfo Bonucci
6th Prize: not assigned

XXVII Edition - 1980

1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize: Niculae Tudor
3rd Prize: Sonig Tchakerian
4th Prize: Eduard Wulfson
5th Prize: Mitsuko Ishii
6th Prize : Daniel Stabrawa and Walter Bertrand

XXVIII Edition - 1981

1st Prize: Ilja Kaler
2nd Prize: Leonid Sorokov
3rd Prize: Frank Almond
4th Prize: Kuniko Nagata
5th Prize: Mircea Călin
6th Prize: Francine Trachier

XXIX Edition - 1982

1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize : Alexander Markov and Boris Garlitsky
3rd Prize: Sonoko Numata
4th Prize : Philippe Djokic, Maxim Fedotov and Hiroko Suzuki

XXX Edition - 1983

1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize: Laurent Korcia
3rd Prize: Sung-Sic Yang
4th Prize: Reiko Watanabe
5th Prize: Boris Schmitz
6th Prize : Soon-Ik Lee and Kazimierz Olechowski

XXXI Edition - 1984

1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize: Vadim Brodski
3rd Prize: Reiko Watanabe
4th Prize: Elisa Kawaguti
5th Prize: Stéphane Tran Ngoc
6th Prize: not assigned

XXXII Edition - 1985

1st Prize: Dmitri Berlinsky
2nd Prize: Mark Moghilevski
3rd Prize: Gabriel Croitoru
4th Prize : Anguelina Abadjieva and Anton Kholodenko
6th Prize: Thomas Böttcher

XXXIII Edition - 1986

1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize: Reiko Watanabe
3rd Prize: Yuri Braginski
4th Prize: Andreas Krecher
5th Prize: Akiko Ueda
6th Prize: Jeanne-Marie Conquer

XXXIV Edition - 1987

1st Prize: Lu Siqing
2nd Prize: Pavel Berman
3rd Prize: Alexei Koshvanets
4th Prize : Adam Taubic and Vincenzo Bolognese
6th Prize: Viktor Kuznetsov

XXXV Edition - 1988

1st Prize: Leonidas Kavakos
2nd Prize: Akiko Suwanai
3rd Prize: Eijin Nimura
4th Prize: Gabriele Pieranunzi
5th Prize: Pavel Pekarski
6th Prize: Ara Malikian

XXXVI Edition - 1989

1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize: Vasko Vassilev
3rd Prize: Oleg Pokhanovski
4th Prize: Anastasia Chebotareva
5th Prize: Tomoko Kawada
6th Prize : Ilja Sekler and Eijin Nimura
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Luca Fanfoni

XXXVII Edition - 1990

1st Prize: Natalia Prischepenko
2nd Prize: Chin Kim
3rd Prize: Gabriele Pieranunzi
4th Prize: Graf Mourja
5th Prize: Roberto Cani
6th Prize: Alexander Trostianski
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Gabriele Pieranunzi

XXXVIII Edition - 1991

1st Prize: Massimo Quarta
2nd Prize: Florin Croitoru
3rd Prize : Nicolas Gourbeix and Misha Keylin
5th Prize: Yumi Makita
6th Prize: Ko-Woon Yang
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Massimo Quarta

XXXIX Edition - 1992

1st Prize: Julia Krasko
2nd Prize: Michiko Kamiya
3rd Prize: Eijin Nimura
4th Prize : Giovanni Angeleri and Karen Lee
5th Prize: Ara Malikian
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Giovanni Angeleri

XL Edition - 1993

1st Prize: Isabelle Faust
2nd Prize: Stefan Milenkovic
3rd Prize: Yuka Eguchi
4th Prize: Florin Ionescu-Galaţi
5th Prize: Eijin Nimura
6th Prize: Giovanni Angeleri
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Giovanni Angeleri
Prize in memory of Renato De Barbieri: Rachel Barton

XLI Edition - 1994

1st Prize: Bin Huang
2nd Prize: Eijin Nimura
3rd Prize: Dmitri Makhtine
4th Prize: Stefan Milenković
5th Prize: Giovanni Angeleri
6th Prize: Giacobbe Stevanato
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Giovanni Angeleri
Prize in memory of Renato De Barbieri: Bin Huang
Friends of the Nuovo Carlo Felice Association prize: Aki Sunahara and Giordan Nikolitch

XLII Edition - 1995

1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize: Alexandru Tomescu
3rd Prize: Oleg Pokhanovski
4th Prize: Leor Maltinski
5th Prize: Stefan Schramm
6th Prize: Antonello Manacorda
Special prize of the Giuria: Anastasia Khitruk
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Leor Maltinski
Prize in memory of Renato De Barbieri: not assigned
Friends of the Nuovo Carlo Felice Association prize: Stefan Schramm

XLIII Edition - 1996

1st Prize: Soovin Kim
2nd Prize: Andrew Haveron
3rd Prize: Ju-Young Baek
4th Prize: Sergei Levitin
5th Prize: Florin Croitoru
6th Prize: Jasmine Lin
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Soovin Kim
Prize in memory of Renato De Barbieri: Sergei Levitin
Friends of the Nuovo Carlo Felice Association prize: Andrew Haveron

XLIV Edition - 1997

1st Prize: Giovanni Angeleri
2nd Prize: Rodion Petrov
3rd Prize: Judith Ingolfsson
4th Prize: Kyoko Yonemoto
5th Prize: Hanako Uesato
6th Prize: Maki Nagata
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Kyoko Yonemoto
Prize in memory of Renato De Barbieri: Rodion Petrov
Friends of the Nuovo Carlo Felice Association prize: Laura Andriani

XLV Edition - 1998

1st Prize: Ilya Gringolts
2nd Prize: Baiba Skride
3rd Prize: Takako Yamasaki
4th Prize: Michael Vitenson
5th Prize: Anton Polezhayev
6th Prize: Maki Itoi
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Ilya Gringolts
Prize in memory of Renato De Barbieri: Maciko Shimada
Friends of the Nuovo Carlo Felice Association prize: Ilya Gringolts

XLVI Edition - 1999

1st Prize: Sayaka Shoji
2nd Prize: Frank Huang
3rd Prize: Akiko Ono
4th Prize: Weiyi Wang
5th Prize: Emil Chudnovsky
6th Prize: Gabriel Adorjan
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Sayaka Shoji
Prize in memory of Mario Ruminelli: Sayaka Shoji
Friends of the Nuovo Carlo Felice Association prize: Francesco Manara

XLVII Edition - 2000

1st Prize: Natalia Lomeiko
2nd Prize: Sayako Kusaka
3rd Prize : Karin Ato and Vadim Tchijik
5th Prize: Sophie Moser
6th Prize: Myroslava Ivanchenko
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Sophie Moser
Prize in memory of Renato De Barbieri: Sayako Kusaka
Prize in memory of the Mario Ruminelli: Natalia Lomeiko
Friends of the Nuovo Carlo Felice Association prize: Vadim Tchijik

XLVIII Edition - 2001

1st Prize: Mariusz Patyra
2nd Prize: Minjae Kim
3rd Prize: Tanja Becker-Bender
4th Prize: Jack Liebeck
5th Prize: A-Rah Shin
6th Prize: Gyula Vadászi
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: A-Rah Shin
Prize in memory of Renato De Barbieri: Mariusz Patyra
Prize in memory of the Mario Ruminelli: Mariusz Patyra
Friends of the Nuovo Carlo Felice Association prize: Tanja Becker-Bender

IL Edition - 2002

1st Prize: Mengla Huang
2nd Prize: Maxim Brylinski
3rd Prize: Daniel Roehn
4th Prize : Emil Chudnovski and Giulio Plotino
6th Prize: Kyoko Une
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Maxim Brylinski
Prize in memory of Renato De Barbieri: Mengla Huang
Prize in memory of the Mario Ruminelli: Mengla Huang
Friends of the Nuovo Carlo Felice Association prize: Alexis Cardenas

L Edition - 2004

1st Prize: Maria Machowska
2nd Prize: Yuki Manuela Janke
3rd Prize: Hyun Soo Shin
4th Prize: Dalibor Karvay
5th Prize: Bracha Malkin
6th Prize: Diego Tosi
Prize in memory of Renato De Barbieri: Alicia N Evans
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Alicia N Evans
Prize in memory of the Mario Ruminelli: Yuki Manuela Janke
Friends of the Nuovo Carlo Felice Association prize: Yuki Manuela Janke

LI Edition - 2006

1st Prize: Feng Ning
2nd Prize: Yura Lee
3rd Prize: Rika Masato
Finalists:
Hyun Joo Choo
Bo-Kyung Lee
Sergey Malov
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Hyun Joo Choo
Prize in memory of the Renato De Barbieri: Feng Ning
Prize in memory of Mario Ruminelli: Sergey Malov
Friends of the Nuovo Carlo Felice Association prize: Feng Ning

LII Edition - 2008

1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize: Stephanie Jeong
3rd Prize: Sean Lee
Finalists:
Francesca Dego
Evgeny Sviridov
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Francesca Dego
Prize in memory of Renato De Barbieri: Evgeny Sviridov
Friends of Paganini Association Prize: Stephanie Jeong
Prize in memory of Mario Ruminelli: Stephanie Jeong
Friends of the Nuovo Carlo Felice Association prize: Evgeny Sviridov

LIII Edition - 2010

1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize: Dami Kim
3rd Prize: Stefan Tarara
Finalists:
Yu-Chien Tseng 曾宇謙
Fedor Rudin
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Yu-Chien Tseng 曾宇謙
Friends of Paganini Association Prize: Yu-Chien Tseng 曾宇謙
Prize in memory of Mario Ruminelli: Dami Kim
Prize in memory of Renato De Barbieri: Dami Kim
Friends of the Nuovo Carlo Felice Association prize: Stefan Tarara

LIV Edition - 2015

1st Prize: In Mo Yang
2nd Prize: Fumika Mohri
3rd Prize: Albrecht Menzel
4th Prize: Diana Pasko
5th Prize: Elly Suh
6th Prize: Dainis Medjaniks
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: In Mo Yang
Prize in memory of Renato De Barbieri: Tan Yabing
Prize in memory of Mario Ruminelli: In Mo Yang
Friends of the Nuovo Carlo Felice Association prize: In Mo Yang

LV Edition - 2018

1st Prize: Kevin Zhu
2nd Prize: Fedor Rudin
3rd Prize: Stephen Kim
4th Prize: Yiliang Jiang
5th Prize: Oleksandr Pusharenko
6th Prize: Luke Hsu
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Kevin Zhu
Prize in memory of Renato De Barbieri: Kevin Zhu
Prize in memory of Mario Ruminelli: Fedor Rudin
Prize in memory of Stefano Fiorilla: Kevin Zhu
Prize of the Associazione Culturale Musica con le Ali: Rennosuke Fukuda

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