Rating of the first category:
The first category is defined by the larger dispersion of age. The differences are always noticeable; some of them
are only starting while others seem as future professional violinists. Today was not an exception. We are trying to support the smallest ones as much as we can; we often divide the prizes, but today the first three ones different from the rest.
The victorious Canadian played the Bruch’s concerto almost professionally. His Royal Conservatory has its quality, just look at the laureate of the year 2014! The second Teo Gertler from Slovakia performed a very pleasant performance, very close to us Central Europeans. We also liked him the best as an interpreter of the Kocian’s piece that he will perform at the theatre.
And what to add to the third Mongolian contestant? She was the best of the Mongolian violinists in the youngest category. I would also like to add that out of seventeen contestants, seven of them were Mongolian and only three were Czech; we should be ashamed a little. This time, our representatives are not on the highest places, but it is more of a coincidence than a trend. All in all, I am satisfied with the quality of the first category.
Rating of the second category:
The Czechs are obviously glad, but the distribution is fair. There was a division of the 1st prize, but in regards of the points, it came out in a way that we could not do it differently. Even the Swede on the 2nd place was just closely behind them! Therefore, he got a separate second prize. I really liked him; in my opinion, I think that he will become a great professional violinist. He still needs some small improvements.
Every one of the Czech winners was a bit different in their performances, even though it was only details. Milan Kostelenec won the youngest category last year; he has already some experience, he played with Pavel Šporcl, his performance was certain. Jan Novák was a pleasant surprise.
As for the third prizes, Vilém Jirsa, who is well-known in Ústí, recorded another quality result, even the children’s jury liked him. The young Bulgarian made a quality performance; maybe she had a disadvantage of playing as the first. The last third prize and mainly the attractive prize for the best interpretation of the piece by Bohuslav Martinů won Alžběta Dusová. She caught our attention with her performance; Martinů calls for a lot of musicality, with which she interested us.
There is still a problem with choosing the pieces; sometimes the young violinists do not play what is convenient for them. But that is an issue of the teachers, not their pupils. The second category was weaker in some years, but this year, it was very good.
Rating of the third category:
After the second round, I am more optimistic; the performances of practically everyone significantly improved in comparison to the first round. As a jury, we had an easier position; the winner convincingly differed from the others. The performance of Daniel Matejča was completely professional, he could attend a competition for older violinists with it. His interpretation was without mistake, musical. It is visible that he single-mindedly goes straight; he has a quality lead. Furthermore, he chose the repertoire correctly.
The Belgian contestants usually have quality, but in the end, the second Theodore Kim did not impress us in the first round; however, he did in the second round.
The Serbians usually bet on a virtuoso technique, but they often miss order. From year to year, it gets better; he must delete slight technique problems. Her teacher is very caring regarding her pupils and it works.
All in all, I can say that this year’s third category was worthy the jubilee year of the competition.
photo: Adam Faltus