BREAKING | Violinists Angela Chan and Jacques Forestier Awarded Joint 1st Prize at Hannover's Joseph Joachim Violin Competition
Chan and Forestier were both given the Joseph Joachim Prize after an exciting final round with the NDR Radiophilharmonie and conductor Stephan Zilias
Taking place every three years in Hannover, Germany, the 2024 Joseph Joachim Violin Competition, run by the Stiftung Niedersachsen, has come to a close. The Joseph Joachim Prize has been jointly awarded to 27-year-old Angela Chan, from Hong Kong, and 19-year-old Jacques Forestier, from Canada. They will each receive €15,000 for the top prize, and €10,000 for being a "Laureate of the Joseph Joachim Violin Competition."
As one of the three finalists, Kyumin Park will also receive €10,000.
You can watch the final round of the competition on The Violin Channel.
Several additional prizes were awarded tonight, in addition to a lengthy list of concert engagements with leading orchestras and organizers.
The best interpretation of the commissioned work by Enno Poppe, worth 5,000 Euro, was given to Angela Chan, while the Audience Award, worth 2,000 Euros was given to Jacques Forestier.
The Chamber Music Prize, of 3,000 Euro, chosen by the members of the Kuss Quartet, went to Semi-Finalist Louisa Staples.
Since 2003, the Fritz Behrens Foundation has lent an instrument by the Italian violin maker Giovanni Battista Guadagnini (Parma, ca. 1765) to a participant in the competition. Additionally, the Warner Classics label will select one person from all participants whose debut album it will communicate and market internationally. Both the Guadagnini and Warner Prize went to Forestier.
The G. Henle Verlag award, comprising a cash prize of €1,500, a sheet music voucher worth €400, and a credit voucher for the Henle Library app worth around €100, went to Kyumin Park.
Lastly, the karsten witt music management GmbH is sponsoring Louisa Staples with a music management course at the kwmm Academy.
Chaired by Soprano Juliane Banse the jury in 2024 consisted of violinists Lorenza Borrani, Ning Feng, Liza Ferschtman, András Keller, Gidon Kremer, and Kathrin Rabus as well as violist Kim Kashkashian, pianist Alexander Lonquich, and conductor Stephan Zilias.
Previous first-prize winners include Maria Ioudenitch, Timothy Chooi, Sergey Dogadin, Alexandra Conunova, Fumiaki Miura, Suyoen Kim, and Antje Weithaas.
A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the New England Conservatory, Angela Sin Ying Chan studied with Donald Weilerstein, Pamela Frank, Shmuel Ashkenasi, and Aaron Rosand. Chan is a top prize winner at the 2017 International Louis Spohr Competition and the 2022 Nomea Competition, and second prize at the 2023 ArsClassica Competition.
The 2022 Artist in Residence at the Heifetz Institute of Music, Chan has performed at major festivals such as the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, the Heifetz Institute of Music, and the Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival. Her solo performances include concerts with the Orquesta Filharmonica Boca Del Rio and the Trinitite Philharmonica in 2024. She has performed with orchestras such as the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong Youth Orchestra.
A student at the Curtis Institute of Music since 2022, Jacques Forestier previously studied in the Perlman Music Program and at the Mount Royal Conservatory of Music. He takes lessons from Shmuel Ashkenasi and Pamela Frank.
Forestier has won prizes at competitions such as the OSM Manulife Competition, Shean Strings Competition, Stulberg International String Competition, and Johansen International Strings Competition. He was the only Canadian to qualify for the 2018 Yehudi Menuhin Competition in Geneva.
His concert appearances include solo performances with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, a tour with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, and a concert with the Western Michigan Symphony Orchestra — in addition to playing at the ChamberFest Cleveland and the Gstaad Menuhin Festival.
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