The International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart in Augsburg is an international violin competition, held every three years in commemoration of Leopold Mozart (1719–1787), the father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is the goal of the competition to encourage young violinists and to promote Augsburg's reputation as a German Mozart city. The competition is a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC) in Geneva.[1] It is run by the Leopold Mozart Board of Trustees in cooperation with the city of Augsburg and the Leopold Mozart Center of the University of Augsburg. Further partners are the Bavarian State Ministry for Science, Research and Art, the District of Swabia, Bavarian Radio and the University of Augsburg.
The idea of having an international violin competition in Augsburg was promoted by Klaus Volk, the director in the 1980s of the Leopold Mozart Conservatory. After sufficient funds had been contributed, it was announced that a violin competition would take place in 1987. A non-profit organization, the Leopold Mozart Board of Trustees was founded on 7 July 1986 as operator of the international competition and as funding agency of the conservatory, later the College of Music Nuremberg-Augsburg, now the Leopold Mozart Center of the University of Augsburg.
In 1987 the first International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart was held. Since then the competition has taken place at regular intervals, at first every four years and since 2003 largely every three years. Many Augsburg prize winners have gone on to international careers, among them Isabelle Faust, Benjamin Schmid, Lena Neudauer, Joji Hattori, Suyoen Kim, Yura Lee and Jehye Lee.
The competition 2019 is open to young violinists between the ages of 15 and 30. Out of all the applicants a jury chooses approximately 24 participants. The selected candidates demonstrate their talent in three competition rounds. The international jury consists not only of violinists but also of prominent personalities from other music fields. For the first time, the candidates will also be evaluated by a critic jury, an international panel of music journalists.[2][3] The works which are to be played are decided anew before each competition. In the final round of the competition, the candidates are always required to play a concerto for violin and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
In 2006, 2009 and 2016 a special youth jury was initiated. Talented young violin students have the opportunity to evaluate the candidates parallel to the jury of international professionals and to award their own prize.[4]
In 2013, supervised by the Leopold Mozart Center of the University of Augsburg, a composition by Ignaz von Beecke from the Oettingen-Wallerstein collection was edited and performed for the first time in over 200 years as part of the competition repertoire. In 2016 a trio by pianist Franz Xaver Kleinheinz (born 1765 in Nassenbeuren) was edited by pianoforte specialist Christoph Hammer and used for the second round of the competition.
Since 1999 competition repertoire for the second round has included commissioned works by Rodion Shchedrin (4th Violin Competition 1999), Wilfried Hiller (5th Violin Competition 2003), Viktor Suslin (6th Violin Competition 2006) and Frangis Ali-Sade (7th Violin Competition 2009). The commission for the 9th Violin Competition 2016, "Florilegium – Homage to Leopold Mozart" by Johannes X. Schachtner used variations on music by Leopold Mozart to focus on that seldom performed composer. Since 2013, all events of the competition have been broadcast on the internet via live stream, courtesy of the media lab of the University of Augsburg.
Participants in the 10th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart 2019 compete for cash prizes presently totaling approx. €50,000. Beyond that, prize winners have prospects of attaining international recognition by playing concerts at notable festivals and with well-known orchestras throughout Europe.
The first prize award is the Mozart Prize. There are also second and third place cash awards as well as various special prizes and youth advancement awards.[5]
1987 – 1st International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:[6]
1991 – 2nd International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:[7]
1995 – 3rd International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:[8]
1999 – 4th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:[9]
2003 – 5th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:[10]
2006 – 6th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:[11]
2009 – 7th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:[12]
2013 – 8th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:[13]
2016 – 9th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:[14][15]
2019 – 10th International Violin Competition Leopold Mozart:
| Year | Honorary president | Artistic Director |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | – | Klaus Volk |
| 1991 | Yehudi Menuhin | Harry Oesterle |
| 1995 | Igor Oistrach | Christian Pyhrr |
| 1999 | Tibor Varga | Christian Pyhrr |
| 2003 | Gidon Kremer | Christian Pyhrr/Julius Berger |
| 2006 | Gidon Kremer | Julius Berger |
| 2009 | Gidon Kremer | Julius Berger |
| 2013 | Bruno Weil | Julius Berger |
| 2016 | Igor Ozim | Petru Munteanu |
| 2019 | Salvatore Accardo | Linus Roth |