Due to the unexpected illness of György Pauk, Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London, violinist Kristóf Baráti will head the international jury of the first Zoltán Kodály International Music Competition.
Between 17–26 June 38 competitors from 19 nations—21 violinists, 7 violists and 10 cellists—will compete in the live rounds of the first Zoltán Kodály International Music Competition Debrecen.
Representatives of all three instruments compete in a single category, with the jury selecting a maximum of 18 competitors for the semi-finals and six for the final—at least one from each instrument.
The international jury for the €45,000 prize competition will be chaired by Kristóf Baráti (violin, Budapest) who will be surrounded by teachers from the world’s most prestigious institutions:
- Vladimír Bukač (viola, Prague),
- Anne Shih (violin, Mainz),
- Denis Severin (cello, Geneva, Bern),
- Wilfried Strehle (viola, Berlin),
- Máté Szűcs (viola, Geneva),
- István Várdai (cello, Vienna),
- and the Kodály Philharmonia Debrecen represented by chief music director Dániel Somogyi-Tóth and principal conductor Imre Kollár.
The opening concert of the competition will take place on 17 June from 7 p.m. in the Assembly Hall of the University of Debrecen, while the Gala Concert with the awards ceremony—featuring the best contestants—will be held on 26 June at 7 pm at the Kölcsey Centre in Debrecen.
In the first round (18–20 June), contestants are performing in solo, while in the second round (21–22 June) they are to perform with piano accompaniment or in duo. In the orchestral finals (24–25 June), the competitors will each perform a concerto as soloists of the Kodály Philharmonic Orchestra. All rounds of the competition are free to attend and will be streamed live online at the website of the competition and Papageno Facebook page.
The competition is organised by Kodály Philharmonia Debrecen and Papageno, and its professional partner is the world’s largest youth music organisation, Jeunesses Musicales International.
