Yehudi Menuhin International Competition For Young Violinists - History

History

The first competition took place in Folkestone in Kent, England in 1983.

The competition is an international violin competition for young players under the age of 22. Since 1983 the competition has attracted young violinists from around the world. Many of the participants and prize-winners have gone on to become international soloists. Among them are Tasmin Little, Nikolaj Znaider, Ilya Gringolts, Julia Fischer, Daishin Kashimoto, Hu Kun, Lara St. John, Ray Chen and Chad Hoopes.

The Menuhin Competition combines a violin competition with a festival of education, music and cultural exchange. All competitors stay throughout the entire event, often with local host families. To date the competition has been hosted in Folkestone, Boulogne-sur-Mer in France and at the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo and the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. For 2014 the Menuhin Competition has been invited to the USA for the first time to be hosted at the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music in Austin, Texas from 21 February to 2 March 2014.

In addition to the competition rounds, the Menuhin Competition stages a series of concerts, master classes and outreach events. Recent competitions have been live-streamed on the internet and many performances can be reviewed on You Tube

The Menuhin Competition asks jury members to perform a concert and give a masterclass as part of their jury service. Past and present jury members include: Maxim Vengerov, Renaud Capuçon, Dong-Suk Kang, Kyoko Takezawa, Bruno Canino, Raphael Wallfisch, Igor Oistrakh, Olivier Charlier and Miriam Fried. Current chair of the jury is the American violinist Pamela Frank.

The Trustees of The Menuhin Competition are Duncan Greenland (Chair), Joji Hattori (President), Farad Azima, Celia Blakey, Sir John Boyd, Prince Etienne d'Arenberg, Zamira Menuhin Benthall (Yehudi Menuhin's daughter) and Aaron Menuhin (Yehudi Menuhin's grandson). Artistic Director of the competition is pianist Gordon Back and General Manager is Susanne Barthelmes.

The most recent competition took place at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China from 6 to 15 April 2012. It was held in association with the National Centre for performing Arts (NCPA Beijing) and the China Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2010 the competition was held in Oslo in Norway. It was organised in partnership with the Norwegian Academy of Music and the Barratt Due Institute of Music, the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Oslo Opera House and the Norwegian Council for Schools of Music and Performing Art.

The 2014 competition will be held at Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA. It will be the first time for the event to be held in the Americas.