BREAKING | Four Finalists Announced at Hannover's 2021 Joachim Violin Competition

The Final Round will be held on the October 10 with conductor Andrew Manze and the NDR Radiophilharmonie — and will be streamed LIVE here on The Violin Channel

Open to international violinists born between October 10, 1989, and September 26, 2005, who are ready to embark on an international career, the competition's four final round candidates are:

• Javier Comesaña (22, Spain)

• Maria Ioudenitch (25, United States)

• Minami Yoshida (23, Japan)

• Chiara Sannicandro (23, Germany)

The 2021 first prize winner will receive the €30,000 "Joseph Joachim" Award and the three-year use of a 1765 Giovanni Battista Guadagnini fine violin — on a generous loan from the Fritz Behrens Foundation.

In addition, each of the 2021 four finalists, including the first prize winner, will receive €10,000 and will have earned the right to bear the title "Laureate of the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition Hannover."

"The jury's job this year is extremely difficult," Co-Artistic Directors Antje Weithass and Oliver Wille this week told The Violin Channel. 

"We're asked our young musicians, in the challenging first two rounds to show us all aspects and varieties of their musical talent," they added. "Obviously there has to be a certain technical standard to fulfill and survive the first two weeks, but in the end, if the performances don't touch and reach hearts and minds, one cannot and should not win here in Hannover. At least, that's what we are hoping for!"

For the final round, each candidate will present either the Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, or Schumann Violin Concerto — in addition to a newly-commissioned work by German composer Manfred Trojahn.

The 2021 international jury comprises Carolin Widman (Chairwoman), Eleonore Büning, Ana Chumachenco, Suyoen Kim, Robert Levin, Andrew Manze, Christine Schäfer, Ulf Wallin, Zohrab Tedevosyan, and Donald Weilerstein.

As the competition's official media and broadcast partner, all rounds will be streamed LIVE here on The Violin Channel and will be available for playback.

For the first time this year, a new chamber music prize will be awarded, in addition to the audience prize and the prize for best interpretation of the new commissioned work.

G. Henle Verlag will also award €2,000 worth of sheet music vouchers, to be divided amongst the finalists.

More than 30 concert promoters will also extend invitations to a candidate of their choosing from any of the 10 semi-finalists in this year's competition, who will perform as part of their concert series, season, or festival. This can include engagements from the Beethovenfest Bonn, the Bozar Center for Fine Arts, Camerata Bern, Poznan Philharmonic, Cologne Philharmonic, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, the NDR Radiophilharmonie, and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich. 

For the first time in the competition's history, Warner Classics will also select one candidate of their choosing to record a debut album — which they will release and market internationally under their label.