The Paganini Competition (aka Premio Paganini or Paganini Concore) is an international violin competition named after the famed virtuoso and founder of contemporary violin technique Niccolò Paganini. Created in 1954 it has been carried out ever since in the months of September and October. The "Paganini Competition" is one of the most important violin competitions. It is held every two years at "Carlo Felice" theatre in Genoa, Italy. There are three levels of competition: preliminaries, semi-finals, and finals and repertoire that is played includes solo violin, violin and piano accompaniment, and violin and orchestra.
Participation
Participants are of all nationalities and are between 15 and 31 years of age.
Competition
Preliminaries: Preliminary repertoire includes two selections for solo violin or violin and piano accompaniment and two Caprices from Paganini's 24 Caprices, Op.1 M.S. 25 for solo violin.
Semi-Finals: Three or four selections for solo violin or violin and piano, one virtuoso piece by Paganini, and one contemporary piece.
Finals: Two pieces with orchestra that may be a whole concerto or part of a concerto. One of the two pieces is always by Paganini.
The Judges
There are eight judges. They are all musicians, usually violinists, but sometimes composers, conductors, or other musicians.
Controversy ensued prior to the 2018 competition when, in February 2018, Fabio Luisi resigned as chairman of the competition, in protest at his perceived imposition of judges by the Italian cultural official Elisa Serafini.
Award
Six musicians place, though occasionally seven have been awarded the prize. Since 1989 special placement has been awarded. It is no longer possible to be joint winners. The player selected by the judges, however, will be given the honor of playing one of Paganini's violins and one of the most known violin owned by Paganini, the Il Cannone made by Guarneri 'Del Gesu', and is often offered recording contracts.
Special awards
Prize in memory of Dr. Enrico Costa: Offered by the Costa Family to the youngest participant admitted to the Final. Prize in memory of the Renato De Barbieri: Offered by the Government of the Province of Genoa to one of the finalists for the best interpretation of Paganini’s Capricci within the Preliminary and Semifinal Stages. Prize of the Association Amici di Paganini: Offered by the Association for the finest performance of the Paganini Concerto. Prize in memory of Mario Ruminelli: Offered by the Ruminelli Family to the best placed finalist Friends of the Nuovo Carlo Felice Association prize: Offered for the best performance of the commissioned work.
Winners
Breakdown of winners and finalists by nationality
Highest number of prizes held (minimum 3) Giovanni Angeleri (Italy) 7 prizes Eijin Nimura (Japan) 5 prizes Yuki Manuela Janke (Germania/Japan) 4 prizes Jean-Pierre Wallez (France) 4 prizes In Mo Yang (South Korea) 4 prizes Ilya Gringolts (Russia) 3 prizes Mengla Huang (China) 3 prizes Stephanie Jeong (US) 3 prizes Dami Kim (South Korea) 3 prizes Feng Ning (China) 3 prizes Mariusz Patyra (Poland) 3 prizes Gabriele Pieranunzi (Italy) 3 prizes Sayaka Shoji (Japan) 3 prizes Reiko Watanabe (Japan) 3 prizes
Past prize-winners
I Edition - 1954
not assigned
II Edition - 1955
1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize: not assigned
3rd Prize: Luciano Vicari (Italy) 4th Prize : Liliane Beretti (France) and Jean Louis Stuurop (Netherlands)
III Edition - 1956
1st Prize : György Pauk (Hungary) and Gérard Poulet (France) 2nd Prize: not assigned 3rd Prize: not assigned 4th Prize : Carmencita Lozada (Philippine), Luciano Vicari (Italy) and Jean-Pierre Wallez (France)
IV Edition - 1957
1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize : Salvatore Accardo (Italy) and Pierre Doukan (France) 4th Prize: Jean-Pierre Wallez (France) 5th Prize: not assigned
V Edition - 1958
1st Prize: Salvatore Accardo (Italy) 2nd Prize: Jean-Pierre Wallez (France)
VI Edition - 1959
1st Prize: Stuart Canin (US) 2nd Prize: Saschko Gawriloff (Germany) 3rd Prize: Liliane Caillon (France) 4th Prize: Catherine Courtois (France) 5th Prize: Eleonora Dell'Aquila (Italy) 6th Prize: Johannes Brüning (Germany)
VII Edition - 1960
1st Prize: not assigned
2nd Prize : Jean-Pierre Wallez (France) and Yossef Zivoni (Israel) 4th Prize: Gigino Maestri (Italy) 6th Prize: Josef Sivo (Austria)
VIII Edition - 1961
1st Prize: (Bulgaria) 2nd Prize : Elaine Skorodin (US) and Carmencita Lozada (Philippines) 4th Prize : Bice Antonioni (Italy) and Paulette Bedin (France)