Winners of the competition in the homeland of the "King of violinists"

VILNIUS. Laureates of Yasha Kheifets Violin Competition Named in Lithuania

The childhood of the “King of violinists” Jasha Heifetz passed in Vilna. His father Reuben was a klezmer, an amateur musician who earned his bread from performances at family events and festivals. It was he who introduced his son prodigy to the basics of playing the violin. Then in his life there were other professional mentors who helped bring the instrument playing technique to perfection, and world fame. But it all began in Vilnius. The Yasha Kheifets Competition, which has become a springboard for new generations of gifted musicians, has been held in the capital of Lithuania since 2001. Since its founding, the work of the international jury has been led by the famous violinist and conductor Gidons Krēmers. At the end of February, the winners of Tarptautinis Jaschos Heifetzo smuikininkų konkursas were honored for the fifth time. The competition, held in the capital of Lithuania on February 13-19, was attended by musicians aged not older than 27 years.

One of the winners of the competition, in 2009, was Russian violinist and viola player Sergey Malov, a graduate of higher music schools in Salzburg, Madrid, and Berlin. This year, the winner of international competitions Stepan Starikov was awarded an honorary diploma. The winner of the first prize was Yurina Arai, a 22-year-old Japanese performer from Japan, and a student at Natsumi Tamai, a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. In the finals of the competition, she brilliantly performed Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto. The third place also went to the representative of Japan - Renosuke Fukuda (Renosuke Fukuda), who picked up the violin, like Heifetz, already at the age of three. At age 14, she won 1 prize at the 15th violin competition in Kloster Chantal. At 15 she won the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition in Austin. Second place - with the talented 17-year-old violinist from Kharkov, Dmitro Udovichenko. After his performance at the festival “Moscow Meets Friends” in 2013, Vladimir Spivakov, admiring the virtuoso technique of the young Ukrainian musician, presented him with the violin of the famous Italian master.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru