Yeyeong Jenny Jin (South Korea/USA) at the 2023 Michael Hill International Violin Competition. Photo: James Roberts
Yeyeong (Jenny) Jin, from South Korea and currently living and studying in the USA has been declared the winner of this prestigious event!
Her heartfelt performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto brought cheers from the near-capacity crowd in the Auckland Town Hall.
The Competition
This year's jury is made up of Hon Christopher Finlayson (Chairperson), violinists Bella Hristova, Ning Feng, Natalia Lomeiko, Wilma Smith, James Ehnes, Anthony Marwood and international pianist Piers Lane.
The prize: $40,000 NZ cash, a recording contract with the Atoll label, a multi-city winners tour with Chamber Music New Zealand and the three-year loan of a fine violin courtesy of Rare Violins of New York.
The Finals:
The three finalists in the Michael Hill International Violin Competition 2023. L to R: Claire Wells, Lorenz Karls, Yeyeong Jenny Jin. Photo: James Roberts (montage by RNZ)
The finalists for this year's Michael Hill International Violin Competition were:
- Lorenz Karls (Sweden/ Austria) performing Sibelius Concerto in D minor
- Claire Wells (USA/Germany) performing Britten Concerto
- Yeyeong Jenny Jin (South Korea/USA) performing Brahms Concerto in D major
Each competitor performed their chosen concerto with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Andrew Litton.
The Semi-Finals
The semi-finalists in the Michael Hill International Violin Competition 2023. Photo: James Roberts
With just 90 minutes’ rehearsal, each semi-finalist lead a quintet made up of eminent NZ musicians Ashley Brown, Amalia Hall, Gillian Ansell and Robert Ashworth in a presentation of one of Mozart's string quintets.
The semi-finalists for the 2023 Michael Hill International Violin Competition were:
- Yeyeong Jenny Jin (20, South Korea/United States)
- Gabrielle Després (22, Canada/United States)
- Eva Rabchevska (26, Ukraine/Germany)
- Claire Wells (22, United States/Germany)
- Aoi Saito (25, Japan/Germany)
- Lorenz Karls (21, Sweden/Austria)
Winner of Best Performance of the New Zealand Composition
Julia Mirzoev (Canada) was presented the prize for best performance of the New Zealand Composition by the composer Michael Norris.
The purpose of this work within the competition is to demonstrate the performers interpretive skills and identify their capabilities with contemporary repertoire.
Michael's work Waipounamu featured pre-recorded backing track featuring taonga pūoro instruments in a soundscape evoking the natural landscape of Aotearoa.
Norris told MHIVC: "I was inspired by the history of pounamu (greenstone) collecting from the rivers around Queenstown, after a summer trip up the Dart River (Te Ara Whakatipu). I asked the taonga puoro performers to bring any gongs or flutes they might possess made out of pounamu — these sounds will be heard throughout the electronics, furnishing the soundtrack with the sounds of the stones themselves."
The Michael Hill International Violin Competition is held every third year, taking turns with two other events:
National String Competition - coming 2024
In February 2022 the The Hill Family Foundation for Art and Music presented the country’s inaugural National String Competition, alongside the longstanding Lewis Eady Charitable Trust’s National Piano Competition, positioning the country’s best young string players and pianists together in a high-stakes competition environment.
Whakatipu Music Festival - coming June 2025
The new Whakatipu Music Festival saw great success in 2021 and 2022 respectively, both in regards to the opportunities offered to young New Zealand musicians and in driving ‘cultural tourism’ to the South Island. It was borne from the need to stimulate the Queenstown economy and to provide a focal point for NZ musicians. Leading New Zealand musicians Stephen De Pledge and Madeleine Pierard, among others, performed and mentored a cohort of high-performance emerging Kiwi musicians.
