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Young Laureates of “The Muse Junior” 2010 Competition

The 2nd International Music Competition "The Muse Junior" has just come to its conclusion for this year. From September 3 until 7, young artists from around the world, aged between 5 and 17, were performing in front of the international audience at the concert hall of a 17th century mansion on the Greek island of Santorini. Rising stars from Armenia, Germany, Greece, Palestine, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, and Uzbekistan have been awarded for demonstrating their skill and artistic abilities during the days of the competition. All of them have shown great potential to shine on concert stages in the future, so watch out for Dunja Kalamir, Hong Kai Ong and Yi Ting Ong, Anne Maria Wehrmeyer, Anastasia Larina, Anush Sargsyan, Zaharias Fotis, among other prize winners whom we unfortunately could not fit in this short article.

Nine quartets ready for Banff

Starting on August 30, the Banff Centre will hold its 10th Banff International String Quartet Competition. Nine quartets will take part in this triennial event. Among those selected groups are two Canadian ensembles, the Afiara String Quartet and the Cecilia String Quartet; the Hausmann Quartet from the USA; Quatuor Zaïde from France, and other groups from Germany, Switzerland, Russia, France, and the USA.

Other recently updated chamber music competitions include the 7th Osaka International Chamber Music Competition & Festa, the 12th International Chamber Music Competition ''Premio Vittorio Gui'' and the 4th Discover National Chamber Music Competition in Illinois.

We'll now update you on solo contests. The 24th "Cidade de Ferrol" International Piano Competition will be held in Spain from November 7 until 14, 2010. The 4th International Telekom Beethoven Piano Competition, which has adjusted its name and changed the age requirements from "up to 30" to "18 " 32" years of age, will take place in December 2011. The 3rd International Piano Competition R. Schumann in Lamporecchio, Italy will be held from December 3 until 7, 2010.

The Cologne International Music Competition will now be held once every three years. The competition has changed its practice of rotating three disciplines each year and will start in the new format in the fall of 2011, simultaneously open for pianists, violinists, and vocalists.

Recent updates

Let"s bring you up to date on what we have found recently. Dates for the next NTDTV Chinese International Violin Competition have been moved to October 28 - 31, 2010. The 43rd International Piano Competition in Ústí nad Labem will now take place in November 25 - 26, 2010.

Recently announced competitions include: Dudley International Piano Competition, the 3rd International Kurt Leimer Piano Contest, the 24th Clara Haskil International Piano Competition, and the 9th International Competition for Young Pianists in memory of Vladimir Horowitz.

As always, we search for new competitions and have recently added two of them: the 1st International Vocal Competition in memory of Nezhdanova, 4th Svetislav Stancic International Piano Competition.

Successful Year for Euterpe Competitions

"Incredible, but this has been the year of the highest number of participants." says Artistic Director of the Euterpe competitions Francesco De Santis. "It has really been a pleasure for the jury to listen to all participants of the competitions". The winner of the 4th International Piano Competition "Euterpe" has become a Japanese pianist Ai Kayukawa, who will return to Italy to give two piano recitals later this year. The second and the third prize went to Lee Ji Hyun from Korea and Tatiana Chistyakova from Russia respectively.

More than 600 young musicians took part in the 12th edition of the "Euterpe" Music Competition this year. Samuel Allan-Chapkowsky and Anna Shabalina have become the absolute winners in the Strings section of the competition. Anna and her pianist Maria Razmakhina have also been named the winners in the Chamber Music section. Calabrian group "Corpo bandistico città di Cirò" was the winner in the Orchestral section, which contracted a jet to arrive to Corato, where the competitions take place.

Among the winners in other divisions of the competitions are a singer Maria Leone, pianists Giuseppe Santarella, Angela Lachezar Todorova, Marco Monterisi, Fabio Di Gennaro, Kohei Asai, Hanna Oh, and Akiko Yoshimitsu.

"As usual, the level has been very high." concludes Mr. De Santis.

The Muse Junior adjusts deadline

"The Muse Junior" recently announced some changes in regards to its competition for youth. Due to changes in the working schedule of the organizing committee, deadline has been moved to July 20, 2010.

The competition is open to young musicians not older than 17 years of age playing piano, violin, cello, and wind instruments. "The Muse Junior" competition will take place on a Greek island of Santorini for the second time and will be held from September 3 until 7, 2010.