1 mins
COMPETITION & AWARD WINNERS
Xuanhan Xu
Lawrence Power
Top prize at the Pablo Casals International Award for young cellists went to Chinese 16-year-old Xuanhan Xu. A student of Gustav Rivinius at the Hochschule für Musik Saar in Saarbrücken, Germany, Xu received €18,000. Petar Pejcic,
18, from Serbia, took home the AENA Special Prize, while German 19-year-old Felix Brunnenkant came third.
The Eos Quartet won the CHF5,000 (£4,200) first prize at the Orpheus Swiss Chamber Music Competition held in Winterthur, Switzerland. The all-Italian group, comprising violinists Elia Chiesa and Giacomo Del Papa, violist Alessandro Acqui and cellist Silvia Ancarani, formed in 2016 at Rome’s Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia and currently studies with the Quartetto di Cremona. Second prize was awarded jointly to the KamBrass Quintet, based in Spain, and the Nanos Piano Trio, with members from Spain, Ireland and France.
Barbara Zotnierczyk, 20, was awarded first prize at the Polish National Violin Competition Zdzislawjahnke in Poznan, Poland. Zolnierczyk is a student of Bartosz Bryla and Karina Gidaszewskiej at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music, also in Poznan. Second prize was awarded joindy to Wiktoria Bialostocka, 19, and Wojciech Niedziölka, 17. Third prize went to 21-year-old Justyna Grudzieri, and joint fourth prize to
Bartosz Skibiriski, 22 and 21-year-old Karolina Podorska. The winners, all Polish, share a total prize fund of PLN30,000 (£6,100).
Two British string players were among the winners at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards in London, with violist Lawrence Power and cellist Sheku-Kanneh Mason taking home the Instrumentalist and Young Artist awards respectively. In the newly created Inspiration category, intended to celebrate music making initiatives created during lockdown, British violinist Nicola Benedetti’s Virtual Benedetti Sessions and #UriPosteJukebox — featuring US violinist Elena Urioste and British pianist Tom Poster — both received awards.