2024 edition of the international violin making competition

A look back at the second edition of the International Violin Making Competition, dedicated to the violin, which took place from January 17 to 21, 2024.

Open to professionals "Talents of today" and to violin-making schools "Talents of tomorrow", this edition of the International Violin-Making Competition, dedicated to the violin, carried the same desire to promote the excellence of international violin making and to bring forth future talents.

The instrument from the collection of the Museum of Music, which inspired the competitors in the "Talents of Tomorrow" category, was the violin known as the "Sarasate" (inventory number E.1729).

The Competition will thus celebrate the tercentenary of this instrument, made by Antonio Stradivari in Cremona in 1724, and which belonged to Count Cozio di Salabue as well as to two of the greatest virtuosos in the history of the violin, Niccolò Paganini and Pablo de Sarasate.

The competition included events held behind closed doors as well as public events.

To conduct the evaluations, a jury composed of equal numbers of musicians and luthiers was formed, including violinists Tanja Becker-Bender, Roland Daugareil, and Jean-Jacques Kantorow, as well as luthiers Andrea Frandsen, Silvio Levaggi, and Julie Reed-Yeboah. The competition was chaired by Raphaël Pidoux.

During this second edition, the Competition collected:

• 70 violins registered in the "Talent of Today" category

• 8 violins registered in the "Talents of Tomorrow" category

Six schools of violin making and professional luthiers from 20 countries were represented.

Eiichi Chijiiwa, Gilles Henry, Pascale Meley, Nikola Nikolov, violinists from the Orchestre de Paris, made the violins sing in competition during the semi-finals and finals on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 January 2024.

The awards ceremony took place on Sunday, January 21, 2024 at 3 p.m., followed by a musical interlude and a Q&A session with the audience.