International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart in Augsburg

The Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition in Augsburg is one of the most prestigious violin competitions in the world. It is held every three years and commemorates the father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . Leopold Mozart (1719–1787) was born in Augsburg, where he published his famous textbook, attempt at a thorough violin school, in 1756, the year his son was born . The aim of the competition is to promote today's musical youth and to strengthen Augsburg's reputation as the only German Mozart city. The competition is a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions ( WFIMC ), Geneva. The sponsor is the Leopold Mozart Kuratorium eV in cooperation with the City of Augsburg and the Leopold Mozart Center of the University of Augsburg . Other partners are the Bavarian State Ministry for Science, Research and the Arts , the Swabian District , Bavarian Broadcasting and the University of Augsburg.

history

The idea for an international violin competition in Augsburg came up in the early 1980s, driven by Klaus Volk, the director of the Leopold Mozart Conservatory at the time. A small group of culture-enthusiastic Augsburg citizens and entrepreneurs supported his project with generous donations, so that an international violin competition could be announced for 1987. For this purpose, the Leopold Mozart Kuratorium Augsburg was founded on July 7, 1986, a non-profit association as the organizer of the International Violin Competition and also as a sponsor of the Conservatory, what later became the Nuremberg-Augsburg University of Music and now the Leopold Mozart Center of the University of Augsburg.

In 1987 the 1st Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition was held in Augsburg. Since then it has been held on a regular basis, initially every four years, now it takes place every three years. Many of the Augsburg award winners have made international careers, such as Isabelle Faust , Benjamin Schmid or Lena Neudauer and Joji Hattori , Suyoen Kim , Yura Lee and Jehye Lee.

Participation and procedure

Young violin talents between the ages of 15 and 30 can apply. A jury will select around 24 participants from the 2019 applicants. In the competition, the candidates have to prove their musical talent in three competition rounds. Which works will be interpreted is determined anew in the run-up to each competition. The 2019 participants will be judged by an international jury made up of violinists and personalities from other musical fields. For the first time, a jury of critics with international music journalists will judge the candidates.

Upon request, the participants and their companions can be accommodated with host families in Augsburg and the region.

particularities

The final of the Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition is for the Mozart Prize; therefore the finalists always play a concerto for violin and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart .

At the 2006, 2009 and 2016 competitions, there was also a youth jury alongside the international expert jury: young violin talents had the chance to evaluate the participants and award their own prize.

In 2009, the Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition set standards with an emphasis on the chamber music examination. In 2013 a work by Ignaz von Beecke from the Oettingen-Wallerstein collection was re-edited by the Leopold Mozart Center of the University of Augsburg and performed again in the competition repertoire for the first time in over 200 years. In 2016, the trio of pianist Franz Xaver Kleinheinz, born in Nassenbeuren in 1765, was published for the 2nd round of the competition by fortepiano specialist Christoph Hammer . The collaboration with music research will be continued.

Since 1999, the repertoire of the second round has included commissioned compositions by Rodion Shchedrin (4th violin competition 1999), Wilfried Hiller (5th violin competition 2003), Viktor Suslin (6th violin competition 2006) and Firəngiz Əlizadə (7th violin competition 2009). The commissioned work of the 9th Violin Competition 2016, “Florilegium - Hommage à Leopold Mozart” by Johannes X. Schachtner , focused on the little-played composer with variations on music by Leopold Mozart . The commissioned work for the 10th Violin Competition 2019 comes from Elżbieta Sikora .

Some innovations have been introduced for the 2019 competition: Current and former students of the jurors and the artistic director are not admitted to the competition. The international jury includes not only violinists, but also personalities from other musical fields and a jury of critics. Instead of around 50 as before, only around 24 violinists will take part. In order to discover the most holistic musical personalities possible, the competition concept was expanded: In addition to musical and technical skills, communicative and social aspects are also assessed in rehearsals for chamber music, as well as skills for meaningful independent program composition. Due to the reduction to three rounds (instead of the previous four), the competition is three days shorter than before.

The media laboratory of the University of Augsburg has been taking over the live streaming of all competition events on the Internet since 2013.

Prices

At the 10th Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition 2019, prize money totaling around 50,000 euros will be played. In addition, the award winners are given the prospect of concert engagements throughout Europe, which will help the young talents to gain international renown.

The Mozart Prize goes to the 1st prize winner. There are further cash prizes for the second and third placed. In addition, there are various special prizes and youth development prizes.

Award winners

1987 - 1st International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:

1st prize: Isabelle Faust (Germany)
2nd prize: Sigrun Edvaldsdottir (Iceland)
3rd prize: Anette Behr (Germany)

1991 - 2nd International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:

1st prize: Benjamin Schmid (Austria)
2nd prize: Joji Hattori (Japan)
3rd prize: Kyung-Sun Lee (Korea)

1995 - 3rd International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:

2nd prize ex aequo: Felicitas Clamor-Hofmeister (Germany)
2nd prize ex aequo: Riyo Uemura (Japan)
3rd prize: Asuka Sezaki (Japan)
4th prize: Nicolai Satschenko (Russia)
Audience Award: Nicolai Satschenko (Russia)

1999 - 4th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:

1st prize (Mozart Prize): Lena Neudauer (Germany)
2nd prize: Bogdan Zvoristeanu (Romania)
3rd prize: Naoko Ogihara (Japan)
Audience Award: Lena Neudauer (Germany)
Richard Strauss Prize: Lena Neudauer (Germany)
Rodion Shchedrin Prize: Bogdan Zvoristeanu (Romania)
Special Prize Richard Strauss Sonata: Naoko Ogihara (Japan)

2003 - 5th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:

1st prize (Mozart Prize): Suyoen Kim (Korea)
2nd prize: Ye-Eun Choi (Korea)
3rd prize: Sophia Jaffé (Germany)
Audience Award: Suyoen Kim (Korea)
Special prize for the best interpretation of the contemporary commissioned work: Suyoen Kim (Korea)

2006 - 6th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:

1st prize (Mozart Prize): Yura Lee (Korea)
2nd prize ex aequo: Gahyun Cho (Korea)
2nd prize ex aequo: Yuki Manuela Janke (Germany)
Audience Award: Yura Lee (Korea)
Youth Jury Prize: Yura Lee (Korea)
Special prize for the best interpretation of the contemporary commissioned work: Nurit Stark (Israel)

2009 - 7th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:

1st prize (Mozart Prize): Jehye Lee (Korea)
2nd prize: Friederike Starkloff (Germany)
3rd prize: Roman Patočka (Czech Republic)
Chamber music prize ex aequo: Jehye Lee (Korea)
Chamber music prize ex aequo: Roman Patočka (Czech Republic)
Prize for the best interpretation of the contemporary commissioned work: Terauchi Shiori (Japan)
Youth Jury Prize: Roman Patočka (Czech Republic)
Audience Award: Jehye Lee (Korea)

2013 - 8th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:

1st prize (Mozart Prize): Maia Cabeza (Canada)
2nd prize: Jonian Ilias Kadesha (Greece / Albania)
3rd prize: Thomas Reif (Germany)
4th prize: Young uk Kim (South Korea)
Chamber Music Prize: Jonian Ilias Kadesha (Greece / Albania)
Special prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary work: Maia Cabeza (Canada) / Ken Schuhmann (Germany)
Audience Award: Jonian Ilias Kadesha (Greece / Albania)

2016 - 9th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:

1st prize (Mozart Prize): Ji Won Song (South Korea)
2nd prize: Ziyu He (China)
3rd prize: Jae Hyeong Lee (South Korea)
Youth Jury Prize: Jae Hyeong Lee (South Korea)
Special CD production award: Ji Won Song (South Korea)
Audience Award: Ji Won Song (South Korea)
Prize of the Munich Radio Orchestra: Jae Hyeong Lee (South Korea)
Special award "commissioned work": Ziyu He (China)
Special prize "Swabian Chamber Music": Haruna Shinoyama (Japan)
"Kronberg Academy" special award: Ziyu He (China)

2019 - 10th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:

1st prize (Mozart Prize): Joshua Brown (USA)
2nd prize: Karisa Chiu (USA)
3rd Prize: Kaoru Oe (Japan)
Special award "commissioned work": Kaoru Oe (Japan)
Special "Chamber Music" Prize: Simon Wiener (Switzerland)
Special Prize of the Critics Jury: Simon Wiener (Switzerland)
Audience Award: Joshua Brown (USA)
Special Award "CD Production": Joshua Brown (USA)
Youth Prize: Hyojin Kan (South Korea), Naoko Nakajima (USA / Japan), Hsin-Yu Shih (Taiwan), Sara Zeneli (Italy)
"Kronberg Academy" special award: Joshua Brown (USA)
Special Prize from Jury Chairman Benjamin Schmid: Joshua Brown (USA)

Honorary Presidents and Artistic Directors

year	Honorary President	Artistic Director
1987	-	Klaus Volk
1991	Yehudi Menuhin	Harry Oesterle
1995	Igor Oistrakh	Christian Pyhrr
1999	Tibor Varga	Christian Pyhrr
2003	Gidon Kremer	Christian Pyhrr / Julius Berger
2006	Gidon Kremer	Julius Berger
2009	Gidon Kremer	Julius Berger
2013	Bruno Weil	Julius Berger
2016	Igor Ozim	Petru Munteanu
2019	Salvatore Accardo	Linus Roth

Commissioned works

Rodion Shchedrin (* 1932), "Variations and Theme", Schott Musik International, premier November 21, 1999, 4th violin competition 1999
Wilfried Hiller (* 1941), "Ophelia", Schott Musik International, premiere November 24, 2003, 5th violin competition 2003
Viktor Suslin (1942–2012), "1756", Sikorski, UA May 27, 2006, 6th Violin Competition 2006
Frangis Ali-Sade (* 1947), “Dastan”, Sikorski, premier May 23, 2009, 7th violin competition 2009

Johannes X. Schachtner (* 1985), “Florilegium - Hommage à Leopold Mozart”, work for solo violin, Sikorski, premier May 13th, 2016, 9th violin competition 2016

Elżbieta Sikora (* 1943), "SOLEOS", work for violin solo and electronic music, premier June 1st, 2019, 10th violin competition 2019

SPECIAL EDITION

Ignaz von Beecke (1733–1803), Piano Trio in C major, Edition Hammer, EA April 27, 2013, 8th Violin Competition 2013
Franz Xaver Kleinheinz (1765–1832), Trio for fortepiano, violin and violoncello, EA 13 May 2016, 9th violin competition 2016

CD productions

Suyeon Kim, 1st prize winner 2003, Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie, conductor Pietari Inkinen. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major KV 218, Symphony No. 8 in D major KV 48 / Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Suite No. 2 for Solo Violin, Concerto funèbre for Violin and Strings (OehmsClassics OC 512).
Yura Lee, 1st prize winner 2006, Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic, conducted by Reinhard Goebel. Johann Christian Bach: Sinfonia in D major (Overture to "Amadis de Gaule", Paris 1779) / Simon Le Duc: Symphony in E-flat major / Chevalier de Saint-George: Concerto in G major op. 2 no. 1 / Pierre-Montan Berton L´Ainé: Chaconne in E minor / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: “Parisian” Symphony in D major KV 297 (OehmsClassics OC 705).
Friederike Starkloff, 2nd prize winner 2009, Josè Gallardo (piano). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sonata in F major KV 377, Sonata in B flat major KV 454, Sonata in A major KV 526 / Mozart-Kreisler: Rondo, Allegretto, from Haffner-Serenade KV 250 (OehmsClassics OC 756).
Maia Cabeza, 1st prize winner 2013, José Gallardo (piano), Liga Skride (harpsichord), CONCERTINO Ensemble, conducted by Dirk Kaftan. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sonata for violin and piano in D major KV 306, Adagio E major KV 261, Rondo in C major KV 373 / Alfred Schnittke: Fugue for solo violin 1953, Sonata for violin and chamber orchestra 1963/68 (OehmsClassics OC 766).
Ji Won Song, 1st prize winner 2016, José Gallardo (piano). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sonata for violin and piano in E flat major KV 481, Sonata for violin and piano in F major KV 376 (374d) / Ludwig van Beethoven: Romance in F major op.50, Rondo in G major WoO 41 / Fritz Kreisler : Rondino on a theme by Beethoven / Pablo de Sarasate: Fantasy the Magic Flute by Mozart (Rondeau - Klanglogo KL1523).

Works by Leopold Mozart (selection)

Three masses, including the Missa brevis in C major LMV I: C2 (this was initially mistakenly ascribed to his son as KV 115)
Five litanies
70 symphonies (twelve are lost), including Sinfonia da caccia in G major ("Hunting Symphony"; LMV VII: G9)
Six divertimenti, parthias and serenades, including "A musical sleigh ride" (LMV VIII: 8) and Divertimento in D major "The Peasant Wedding" (LMV VIII: 6)
Five flute concerts (four are missing)
A trumpet concerto (originally part of the Serenata in D major LMV VIII: 9, from whose other movements a trombone concerto was put together)
Three piano sonatas
Three piano trios
19 violin duos (from the violin school)
Two divertimenti for flute, violin and bass (one is missing)
u. a. m.

Movies

“Immersed in eternity, Augsburg - the Bavarian city of Mozart”, a film documentary by Bernhard Graf , Bayerischer Rundfunk, 2011, searching for traces of Leopold Mozart and his ancestors.
"Mozart - the true story", a film documentary by Bernhard Graf , Bayerischer Rundfunk, 2012, documentary game about Leopold Mozart, his famous son and his ancestors.

literature

"25 years of Leopold-Mozart-Kuratorium Augsburg eV", anniversary publication, Leopold-Mozart-Kuratorium Augsburg eV
Leopold Mozart, attempt at a thorough violin school, designed and provided with 4 copper plates and a table by Leopold Mozart, Hochfürstl. Salzburg Chamber Musician, published by the author's publishing house, Augspurg, printed by Johann Jacob Lotter, 1756.
Leopold Mozart, attempt at a thorough violin school, facsimile reprint of the 1st edition 1756, edited by Greta Moens-Haenen, Bärenreiter, Kassel etc., 3rd edition 2005.
Leopold Mozart, Thorough Violin School, facsimile reprint of the 3rd edition, Augsburg 1789, Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 1991.
Leopold Mozart, Thorough Violin School, first edition of the second edition from 1769 in modern script and adapted spelling, © Kulturverlag Polzer, Salzburg 2007.
Cliff Eisen, Leopold Mozart catalog raisonné (LMV) (contributions to Leopold Mozart research 4), Wißner-Verlag, Augsburg 2010.
Ernst Fritz Schmid, A Swabian Mozart Book, Wißner-Verlag, Augsburg, 2nd edition 1998.
Ernst Fritz Schmid, Leopold Mozart (1719–1787), in: Lebensbilder aus dem Bayerischen Schwaben 3, ed. von Götz von Pöllnitz, Hueber, Munich 1954, pp. 346–368.
Adolf Layer, A Youth in Augsburg. Leopold Mozart 1719–1737, Die Brigg Verlag, Augsburg 1975.
Erich Valentin, Leopold Mozart, Portrait of a Personality, Paul List Verlag, Munich 1987.
Josef Mančal / Wolfgang Plath (eds.), Leopold Mozart. On the way to understanding (contributions to Leopold Mozart research 1), Wißner-Verlag, Augsburg 1994.
Wolfgang Plath, Leopold Mozart, in: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB), Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, pp. 238–240.
Martin Kluger, WA Mozart and Augsburg. Ancestors, hometown and first love, context verlag, Augsburg 2007.
Christian Broy, On the transmission of the large musical works of Leopold Mozart (Contributions to Leopold Mozart Research 5), Wißner Verlag, Augsburg 2012.
Martin Kluger, Mozart. Half an Augsburg. History and monuments of the Mozarts in and near Augsburg, context verlag, Augsburg 2016.
Leopold Mozart bibliography, introductory literature, publications by the International Leopold Mozart Society at www.leopold-mozart.de