Queen Elisabeth Competitioncd-Box

QUEEN ELISABETH COMPETITIONCD-BOX

Violin 2012

Ref.: QEC2012
Bar code:5425019970116

Benelux release:02.06.2012

Additional information

Off The RECORDS

Olivier Vannieu

T. +32 (0)2 5244924- F. +32 (0)2 5240726

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High definition pictures of the CD available on:

High definition pictures of the laureates available on:

Editorial

Ever since the 1937 edition, which then bore the name of Eugène Ysaÿe, the QueenElisabeth Competition has been a celebration of music.

In both Studio 4 and the Brussels Palais des Beaux-Arts (Centre for Fine Arts), the violinistcandidates of the Competition 2012 attracted enthusiastic audiences that included musicprofessionals from all over the world, who were moved by the sensibility and talentof dozens of young musicians who demonstrated their great commitment to their art.

Media coverage, which was particularly extensive this year for the 75thanniversaryof the Queen Elisabeth Competition, made it possible to broadcast a wide repertoire of chambermusic, including works (obligatory for each candidate) by Eugène Ysaÿe and Victor Kissine,as well as Mozart concertos with the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie and MichaelHofstetter. Nor will we easily forget the finalists’ performances in concertos accompanied by theNational Orchestra of Belgium under Gilbert Varga and in the compulsory work by the Japanesecomposer Sakai Kenji, winner of the Grand Prize in our International Composition Competition2011. This young generation of violinists, an ever increasing number of whom come from Asiancountries, has once more had the good fortune to be given a hearing by a jury of artists whoserenown is matched only by the generosity with which they give their time.

This set of live recordings allows you to experience the atmosphere and excitementof this springtime Brussels rendezvous, which remains the great violin festival and whoseprestige is constantly growing. Above all, it will allow you to be one of the first to discovera number of violinists of the highest quality who will, we expect, thanks to their successat the Competition, go on to solo careers in the world’s great concert halls. The team thatorganises the Competition and all of our partners are delighted to be able to share with you thiscelebration of artistic excellence and of fine young musicians with bright futures ahead of them.

Michel-Etienne Van Neste

SecretaryGeneral of the Queen Elisabeth Competition

Executive producer: Olivier Vannieu (Off The Records)

Balance engineers: Frédéric Briant & Hugues Deschaux

Sound recording, editing and pre-mastering: Aline Blondiau, Frédéric Briant, Hugues Deschaux,

assisted by Mikael Dardilhac, Tanguy Desmet & Jeremy Vanoost

Texts & Translation: Martin McGarry, Catherine Miller, Barbara Stael

Live recording of the semi-final from 7 to 12 May 2012 at Flagey (Studio 4), Brussels

Live recording of the final from 21st to 26 May 2012 at the Center for Fine Arts, Brussels

Press release

As is customary each year, the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition of Belgium has released a set of recordings. The3CD box set Violin 2012 has been available since Saturday 2 June in all Belgian record retailers and on the internet ( In spite the public holiday on Monday 28 May, extremely tight production deadlines have been met once again and the box set was on the shelves less than one week after the announcement of the results.

For music-lovers in general and lovers of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in particular, this 3-CD box set is the greatest souvenir for reliving the most beautiful musical moments of the Competition. It also offers an opportunity to discover new violinists, those who will fill the world’s great concert halls for years to come.

Thesemi-finals, held for the first time at Flagey this year, and finals at the Center for Fine Arts (Palais des Beaux-Arts) were both recorded. The 2012 box set, therefore, offers pieces for solo violin and for violin and piano, as well as works performed with orchestra. We note this year that four concertos from the repertoire (performed during the finals and accompanied by the National Orchestra of Belgium conducted by Gilbert Varga) are presented in this CD box set: the Shostakovich Concerto n. 1 played by Andrey Baranov (1st prize), the Paganini Concerto n. 1 played by Narita Tatsuki (2nd prize), the Sibelius Concerto performed by Shin Hyun Su (3rd prize) and the Beethoven Concerto by Esther Yoo (4th prize). And without forgetting the chamber music performed at Flagey and at the Center for Fine Arts: the Ravel Sonata performed by Tseng Yu-Chien (5th prize) and the Brahms Sonata No. 3 played byShinHyun Su. The Ysaÿe Sonata op.27/3, an obligatory work for the semi-final is performed by Narita Tatsuki - and we also hear Artiom Shishkov (6th prize) in Nigunby Bloch.

Faithful to the Queen Elisabeth Competition’s tradition of promoting contemporary compositions, the two compulsory worksare also presented in the box set. The first, Caprice for violin and piano commissioned from the Belgian composer Victor Kissine and performed by Andrey Baranov, and the other, the Concerto pour violon by Kenji Sakai, winner of the Queen Elisabeth International Composition Competition 2011, performed by Narita Tatsuki. The composers themselves chose the performances which are included in the CD box set.

Yet another tradition for the Queen Elisabeth Competition CD box is the bonus CD Encore, offered as a gift to those who placed advance orders, but still available until stocks are depleted. A première this year, this bonus CD is entirely dedicated to the Mozart Concertos performed at Flagey during the semi-finals. Andrey Baranov performs the Concerto n. 3 KV 216, Shin Hyun Su n. 4 KV 218 and Artiom Shishkov n. 5 KV 219; all three of them playing with the Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie under the baton of Michael Hofstetter.

Programme CD 1, 2 & 3 | BonusCDEncore

CD1

1-4Dmitry SHOSTAKOVICH(1906-1975) – Concerto n. 1 in A minor op. 77 - Andrey BARANOV

[Nocturne - Scherzo - Passacaille - Burlesque]

5-7Jean SIBELIUS(1865-1957) – Concerto in D minor op. 47 - SHIN Hyun Su

[Allegro moderato - Adagio di molto - Finale]

CD2

1Eugène YSAŸE(1858-1931) – Sonata in D minor op. 27/3 - NARITA Tatsuki

2Victor KISSINE(°1953) – Caprice - Andrey BARANOV

3-5Maurice RAVEL(1875-1937) – Sonata in G major - TSENG Yu-Chien

[Allegretto - Blues - Perpetuum mobile]

6Ernest BLOCH(1880-1959) – Nigun (Baal Shem) - Artiom SHISHKOV

7-9Nicolò PAGANINI(1782-1840) – Concerto n. 1 in D major op. 6 - NARITA Tatsuki

[Allegro maestoso - Adagio espressivo - Rondo, allegro spirituoso]

CD3

1-3Ludwig VAN BEETHOVEN(1770-1827) – Concerto in D major op. 61 - Esther YOO

[Allegro ma non troppo - Larghetto - Rondo: Allegro]

4-7Johannes BRAHMS(1833-1897) – Sonata n. 3 in D minor op. 108 - SHIN Hyun Su

[Allegro alla breve - Adagio - Un poco presto e con sentimento - Presto agitato]

8SAKAI Kenji(°1977) – Concerto pour violon - NARITA Tatsuki

Piano:Dana PROTOPOPESCU (CD2: 2), Daniel BLUMENTHAL (CD2: 3-5),

Dasha MOROZ (CD2: 6), SATO Takashi (CD3: 4-7)

National Orchestra of Belgium, cond. Gilbert VARGA (CD1 - CD2: 7-9 - CD3: 1-3 & 8)

Bonus CDEncore

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART(1756-1791)

1-3Concerto n. 3 in G major KV 216 -Andrey BARANOV

[Allegro - Adagio - Rondeau] Cadenze: S. FRANKO

4-6Concerto n. 4 in D major KV 218 - SHIN Hyun Su

[Allegro - Andante cantabile - Rondeau] Cadenze: J. JOACHIM

7-9Concerto n. 5 in A major KV 219 - Artiom SHISHKOV

[Allegro aperto - Adagio - Rondeau] Cadenze: J. JOACHIM

Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, cond. Michael HOFSTETTER

Jury

Jury Violin 2012

Arie VAN LYSEBETH, Chairman

Pierre AMOYAL

Augustin DUMAY

Patrice FONTANAROSA

Daniel HOPE

HU Nai-Yuan

Lewis KAPLAN

Kim MIN

Philippe KOCH

Shirly LAUB

Mihaela MARTIN

Natalia PRISCHEPENKO

Tatiana SAMOUIL

SUWANAI Akiko

Vera TSU WEILING

Nicolas DERNONCOURT, Secretary

Jury Composition 2011

Arie VAN LYSEBETH, Chairperson

CHIN Unsuk

Michael JARRELL

Bruno MANTOVANI

Peter SWINNEN

Frederik VAN ROSSUM

Nicolas DERNONCOURT, Secretary

Biographies

Andrey BARANOV

Russia, °15/01/86, St Petersburg

FIRST PRIZE, QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL GRAND PRIZE - Queen Fabiola Prize

Andrey Baranov studied at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory under Vladimir Ovcharek and Pavel Popov, before goingon to further studies at the Lausanne Conservatory under Pierre Amoyal, whose assistant he became in 2009. In 2008 he won theBenjamin Britten International Competition (London) and the Henri Marteau Competition (Lichtenberg) and in 2010 he wasa laureate of the Sendai (Japan), Indianapolis, Unisa (South Africa), Paganini, and Oistrakh (Moscow) international competitions.Since making his debut with the St Petersburg Philharmonic in 2005, he has played on all five continents in prestigious venuessuch as the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) and the Tchaikovsky Hall (Moscow) and at festivals, including the Salzburger Festspiele.

NARITA Tatsuki

Japan, °05/03/92, Yamagata

SECOND PRIZE- Prize of the Belgian Federal Government - Eugène Ysaÿe Prize

Narita Tatsuki started to learn the violin at the age of 3 and continued his musical studies at the Toho Gakuen School in Tokyo under Fujiwara Hamao. He has performed with a number of orchestras in Japan, including the Nagoya Philharmonic, the Osaka Philharmonic, the Tokyo Philharmonic, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra. He has won a number of prizes at competitions in Tokyo and Kirishima in his homeland. In 2010 he won Second Prize and the SACEM Prize at the Long-Thibaud International Competition in Paris. In 2010 he moved to Paris to study under Jean-Jacques Kantorow, Florin Szigeti, and Svetlin Roussev, with whom he has been pursuing his studies at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique.

SHIN Hyun Su

Korea, °16/07/87, Cheongju

THIRD PRIZE - Count de Launoit Prize

Shin Hyun Su began learning the violin at the age of 4; five years later she joined the pre-school training programme at the Korean National University of Arts, where she went on to study under Kim Nam Yun. She began her career as a soloist at the age of 11 and has performed in Europe, the United States, China, and Japan, with orchestras such as the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C., the Tokyo Philharmonic, the Osaka Philharmonic, and the Seoul Philharmonic. After winning a number of competitions in Korea, she went on to impress at the Tibor Varga International Competition (Third Prize in 2005), the Hanover International Competition (Second Prize in 2006), and the Long-Thibaud International Competition in Paris (First Prize in 2008).

Esther YOO

United States of Amerika, °11/06/94, Edison NJ

FOURTH PRIZE - Prize of the Governments of the Belgian Communities, this year awarded by the Government of the Flemish-speaking Community

Esther Yoo has been living in Belgium from age 6 and began studying at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater in Munich in 2005, under AnaChumachenco, while attending the International School of Brussels. Since 2011 she has studied at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, with AugustinDumay. She has also followed master classes by Zakhar Bron. She made her debut with an orchestra at the age of 8; since then she has played withthe Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Seoul Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de Lorraine, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Moscow Symphony,and the Philharmonia Orchestra under Lorin Maazel. She has performed as a soloist in the Rising Stars series and at Carnegie Hall, the Palaisdes Beaux-Arts (Centre for Fine Arts), and Flagey. At the age of 16 she won Third Prize at the Sibelius International Competition.

TSENG Yu-Chien

China - Taipei, °24/08/94, Taipei

FIFTH PRIZE - Brussels-Capital Region Prize

Tseng Yu-Chien started to study the violin at the age of 3. Since 2008 he has studied at the Curtis Institute of Music,under Ida Kavafian. He has won numerous prizes at international competitions, including the Isang Yun Competition(First Prize in 2011), the Premio Paganini (First Prize in 2010), and the Pablo Sarasate Competition (First Prize in 2009)– at which he was the youngest laureate in the history of the competition. He has performed as a soloist with a numberof orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Navarra, the Taipei Symphony Orchestra,the Cross-Strait Peace Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, and has given numerousrecitals in Spain and Taiwan.

Artiom SHISHKOV

Belarus, °09/03/84, Minsk

SIXTH PRIZE -City of Brussels Prize

After a musical education in his homeland, where he was taught by Eduard Kutchinsky, Artiom Shishkov went on to furtherstudies, starting in 2010, at the Universitat fur Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, under Dora Schwarzberg. He has beenawarded several scholarships and has impressed at international competitions such as the Torun’ Competition in Poland(Second Prize in 2007) and the Brahms Competition in Portschach in Austria (Second Prize in 2006). In 2012 he won Third Prizein the International Max Rostal Competition (Berlin). A member of the Lipkind Quartet, he has given recitals in various Europeancountries and has taken part in a number of festivals, including Art-November in Moscow and the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad(Switzerland). He has performed as a soloist with the Belarus State Philharmonic.

Laureates

Ermir ABESHI

Albania - United States of Amerika, °24/04/87, El Basan

Marc BOUCHKOV

Belgium, °23/04/91, Montpellier (France)

Nikki CHOOI

Canada,°31/01/89, Victoria

KIM Dami

Korea,°15/10/88, Daejon

Josef ŠPAČEK

Czech Republic, °17/10/86, Trebíc

Nancy ZHOU

United States of Amerika,°05/01/93, San Antonio TX

National Orchestra of Belgium

For more than 75 years now, the National Orchestra of Belgium has given passionate performances of the great classics of the symphonic repertoire while also vigorously supporting the music of its time. Andrey Boreyko is its new Music Director, following in the footsteps of such inspired conductors as André Cluytens, Michael Gielen, Mikko Franck, and Walter Weller. The orchestra is a long-term partner of the Brussels Palais des Beaux-Arts (Centre for Fine Arts) and performs regularly for Belgium’s three linguistic communities, in each of the country’s provinces. It works closely with the Queen Elisabeth Competition, accompanies the greatest opera singers, and undertakes a great many educational projects for young people. Its international reputation is growing steadily, thanks both to its concerts and to a series of award-winning discs on Fuga Libera. [

Gilbert VARGA

Gilbert Varga is renowned for his elegant baton technique, and has held positions with and guest-conducted many of the major orchestras throughout the world. In the earlier part of his conducting career he concentrated on work with chamber orchestras, and in particular the Tibor Varga Chamber Orchestra, before rapidly developing a reputation as a symphonic conductor. He was Chief Conductor of the Hofer Symphoniker between 1980 and 1985 and from 1985 to 1990 he was Chief Conductor of the Philharmonia Hungarica in Marl, conducting their debut tour to Hungary with Yehudi Menuhin. In 1991 Varga took up the position of Permanent Guest Conductor of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, which he held until 1995, and from 1997 to 2000 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Malmö Symphony. From 1997 to 2008 Varga was Music Director of the Basque National Symphony Orchestra. In the 2011-12 season he returns to the Philadelphia Orchestra with Yefim Bronfman, makes his debut with the Houston Symphony, and returns to other orchestras, including the Indianapolis, Colorado, Utah, and Nashville symphony orchestras and the Minnesota Orchestra, which he conducts every season. Other ongoing relationships continue with the Atlanta, Saint Louis, Milwaukee, and Baltimore symphony orchestras. In Europe Varga regularly conducts the major orchestras in musical centers such as Berlin, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Cologne, Budapest, Lisbon, Brussels, and Glasgow, with soloists such as Mørk, Ehnes, Vinnitskaya, Hamelin, and Gerstein. Again and again he has been acclaimed for his ability to draw out a broad range of colours and emotions from the orchestra; his programmes frequently feature the ballet suites, tone poems, and symphonies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Varga’s discography includes recordings on various labels, including ASV, Koch International, and Claves Records. His latest recording, released in January 2011, of concertos by Ravel and Prokofiev with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Anna Vinnitskaya on Naïve Records was given five stars by BBC Music Magazine.

Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie

Heir to a great musical tradition, the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie was founded in 1958 by Lola Bobesco. It has been led by conductors from that tradition, as well as by those of the new generation, such as Robin Ticciati. The last chamber music orchestra in Belgium, it has accompanied great musicians and singers, including J. Van Dam, M. Rostropovitch, A. Ciccolini, M. Maisky, M. André, A. Grumiaux, J.-P. Rampal, P. Tortelier, P. Hirshhorn, G. Octors, J. Starker, F. Braley, J.-B. Pommier, M. Béroff, G. Kremer, L. Lortie, J. Wang, and M. J. Pires. Since 2003 the orchestra has benefited from the dynamism and renown of its musical director and principal conductor, Augustin Dumay, whose mandate lasts until 2013. The orchestra is a regular partner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition, the Queen Elisabeth College of Music, the Festival de Wallonie, and Bozar. Directed from the violin by its leader (concertmaster), J.-F. Chamberlan, the ORCW performs regularly in Belgium and particularly for Belgium’s French-speaking Community. In Mons, its city of residence, the orchestra and the Royal Conservatory of Mons organises the summer festival ‘Côté Cour, Côté Jardin’, which enables young talents to blossom. The orchestra is supported by public institutions: the Ministry of the French-speaking Community, the General Commission for International Relations, the Wallonia Foreign Trade and Investment Agency (AWEX), the National Lottery, and the City of Mons. [

Michael HOFSTETTER

Born in Munich, MichaelHofstetter taught orchestral conducting and early music at the Johannes Gutenberg University before emerging as one of the most eminent conductors of performance on period instruments. He has been music director of the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival (Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele) since 2005 and of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra since 2006, where he has kept alive the tradition of baroque interpretation initiated by Karl Münchinger. Starting with the 2012-2013 season he will occupy the post of music director of ‘Recreation-Grosses Orchester Graz’ and of the Staatstheater Gießen, where he made his debut as an orchestral conductor. Hofstetter attaches great importance to his annual collaboration, since 1999, with the Handel Festival in Karlsruhe. He has made a particular impression with productions of neglected operas by Salieri, Gluck, Cimarosa, Hasse, and E.T.A. Hoffmann with the Ludwigsburg festival orchestra, with which he has made a number of recordings. He has also explored other repertoires and has performed many programmes of contemporary music with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, including the world premieres of works by Moritz Eggert and Helmut Oehring. He has been nominated for Opernwelt magazine’s Conductor of the Year award on a number of occasions, most recently for his surprising production of J. A. Hasse’s Didone Abbandonata at the Prinzregententheater in Munich. He was awarded the Robert Stolz Medal for his commitment to operetta and for his work at the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival he was honoured with the Horst Stein Prize. He is a frequent guest at international opera houses and festivals, for example, in Hamburg, Munich, and Berlin, at the Royal Opera in Copenhagen and the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, at Welsh National Opera and Houston Grand Opera, as well as at the Salzburg Festival. Works conducted by him have been released on numerous CDs and DVDs by OehmsClassics, CPO, Orfeo, Deutsche Grammophon, Sony, and Virgin Records.