József Szigeti International Violin and Viola Competition

6-15 September 2012
Budapest

It has become a tradition in the course of the Budapest music competitions to organize every fith year an international violin competition named after the world-famous Hungarian violinist József Szigeti.

A peculiarity of the event to take place in September 2012 is that both young violinists and viola players are invited to the competition.

József Szigeti was a prominent representative of the world-famous Hungarian string school led by Jenő Hubay. His art inspired outstanding composers. With his fellow artists he performed the masterpieces of solo and chamber music literature on extremely high level, with unprecedented elegance and technical perfection.

At the beginning of the seventies he personally discussed the programme of the competition guaranteed by his name with the then Rector of the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music, the violinist Dénes Kovács. The programme has preserved József Szigeti’s ideas and mentality ever since. 

Young violinists have more and more competitions all over the world where they can put their talent on display. Viola players have perhaps less opportunities to present their skills.

This is why we thought that this Szigeti competition should give chances for the players of both string instruments, talented violinists and viola-players alike, to appear together and to make interested audiences acquainted with their art.

József Szigeti (5 September 1892 Budapest -  20 February 1973 Luzern) 

He learned to play the violin with Jenő Hubay at the Budapest Academy of Music. He achieved great success with his débuts in Berlin and Dresden in 1905 and in London in 1906. From 1906 onwards he was living in England and won fame as a teacher as well. He was a professor at the Conservatory of Geneva between 1917 and 1924. He first gave concerts in the USA in 1925 and settled there in 1926. He played a great part in familiarizing the works of early 20th-century composers, such as Igor Stravinsky, George Enescu, Maurice Ravel and Sergey Prokofiev. Between 1932 and the outbreak of World War II he repeatedly appeared in Hungary, the last time on 20 April 1939. Béla Bartók dedicated to Szigeti his First Rhapsody, notably the version with piano, then orchestral accompaniment in 1928 and gave with him (and with the contribution of Benny Goodman and Endre Petri) the premiere of the first, two-movement version of his chamber piece entitled Contrasts in the Carnegie Hall of New York in 1939. Later, in April 1940 Columbia of New York recorded the final, three-movement version with the contribution of Bartók, Szigeti and the clarinettist Benny Goodman. Szigeti gave a concert with Bartók in the Congress Hall of New York as well. They made a joint arrangement of seven pieces of Bartók’s set For Children with the title Hungarian Folk Melodies. At the beginning of the cold war he was regarded as an “undesired person” and even interned once. Although he obtained American citizenship in 1951, he soon left for Switzerland and stayed there once for all. He stopped giving concerts in the late fifties. As honorary president of the Weiner-Bartók Festival he visited Budapest in the autumn of 1963 and gave a lecture on methodology. He was member of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION

The competition is open to violin and/or viola players of all nationalities who were born on or after 1 January 1980.

APPLICATION

The application form should be mailed  by 1 May 2012 (at latest) to  the address of Philharmonia Budapest Concert and Festival Agency  (H-1054 Budapest, Alkotmány u. 31.) or should be send by e-mail to liszkay.maria@hu.inter.net

All of the following documents must be enclosed with the application form:

a/ brief curriculum vitae
b/ certificate of musical qualification
c/ letter of recommendation from a prominent personality in music life
d/ ID or passport copy 
e/ two recent photographs with your name 
f/ the copy of the receipt about the transfer of the entry fee 

The entry fee of equivalent to EUR 140 is to be remitted to the following bank account:
IBAN: HU69-10004885-10002010-00223335
SWIFT: MANEHUHB
Magyar Nemzeti Bank / Hungarian National Bank
H-1054 Budapest, Szabadság tér 8-9.
Filharmónia Budapest Kft. – Szigeti Violin and Viola Competition  
(Please cover the costs of the transfer!)

The application is valid only after the entry free has been paid in and the letter of confirmation has been received. The entry fee will not be refunded to contestants who withdraw from the competition.

Candidates will be informed of the acceptance of their application by 1 June  2012.

Applicants may enter for the competition in both categories simultaneously. The entry fee is to be paid only once in this case as well. 

STRUCTURE OF THE COMPETITION

The competition is divided into three rounds:  preliminary, semi-final, final. 

All rounds will be open to the public.

Practice time will be available, and before each stage competitors have the opportunity of a short rehearsal at the venue of the competition as well. The order of appearance will be decided by ballot at the opening of the competition. This order will be valid throughout the competition.

In the first round competitors play solo pieces, in the semi-final some pieces with piano accompaniment and in the final an orchestra will contribute.

The Organizing Committee has distinguished official piano accompanists available to the competitors free of charge. Competitors may bring their own accompanist at their own expense if they wish so.

After the distribution of the prizes, the prize winners will perform at a Gala Concert. No payment will be made for this or any of the contestants‘ performances, radio and TV recordings during the competition, and any further use of these recordings.

JURY

The jury will evaluate the performances with points ranging from 1 to 25.

The competitors selected for the next round will be listed in alphabetical order.

Usually the jury selects 12 contestants for the semi-final and 6 contestants for  the final round. 

The jury reserves the right to decide whether or not to award the prizes, or to change the contents of any of the prizes. The jury‘s decisions are final and are not open to any appeal or discussion. 

 INTERNATIONAL JURY

Eduard GRACH – Russia – President
BÁRSONY László - Hungary
Gérard CAUSSÉ - France
Siegfried FÜHRLINGER – Austria  
Rivka GOLANI – Great Britain    
KELEMEN Barnabás - Hungary  
PERÉNYI Eszter - Hungary
Lucie ROBERT, USA
Takashi SHIMIZU - Japan                 

ACCOMMODATION

The organizers of the competition offer a reduced-price accommodation possibility for the participants of the competition and their accompaniment.

Detailed information will be provided after the acceptance of the application.

Those selected to play in the final will be the guests of Philharmonia Budapest Concert Agency till the end of the competition.

PRIZES 

First Prize          EUR 8000
Second Prize     EUR 6000 
Third Prize          EUR 4000    

Beyond these prizes concert engagements will be offered to the winners by foreign and Hungarian institutions, festivals and concert organizers.

SECRETARIAT OF THE COMPETITION

All communications should be addressed to:
Philharmonia Budapest Concert and Festival Agency
Mária Liszkay, Manager, Secretary of the Competition
H- 1054 Budapest, Alkotmány u. 31.
Hungary
Phone: +(36-1) 266-14-59, 302-49-61
Fax: +(36-1) 302-49-62
e-mail: liszkay.maria@hu.inter.net 

Repertoire of the competition

Competition schedule

Application form