Violin 2009
From 4 May to 16 June 2009

Under the patronage of H.M. Queen Fabiola

This 15th edition of the Competition to be devoted to Queen Elisabeth’s favourite instrument will allow us to discover a new generation of young violinists. This year’s laureates will, we are sure, be added to the list of great names who have been laureates of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in the past: Leonid Kogan, Jaime Laredo, Gidon Kremer, Yuzuko Horigome, Vadim Repin, Nikolaj Znaider, Baiba Skride, and Sergey Khachatryan, among others.

The preselection round, which will be held behind closed doors in a studio at Flagey, will determine the number of candidates admitted to the public rounds of the Competition. The 24 violinists who will perform in the semi-final will each, once more, be accompanied by Paul Goodwin and the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie in a Mozart concerto, while Gilbert Varga and the National Orchestra of Belgium will join the finalists in the Brussels Centre for Fine Arts.

This year, the compulsory work in the semi-final has been commissioned from Claude Ledoux. It was the prestigious jury of the International Composition Competition, however, that chose the unpublished work to be performed in the final, with the orchestra. The other works chosen by the candidates must meet certain criteria of style and era decided by the Artistic Committee.

As we do every year, we would like to invite you to attend the master classes given at the MIM by some members of the jury, whose talent should make for fascinating encounters. Starting in June, concerts given by the laureates all over the world will offer many more great musical moments.

Our audiences will, we feel sure, be delighted to hear that a 3-CD box set will be available a week after the final evenings at the Centre for Fine Arts. In addition, the country’s two public radio and television broadcasting services will – by Internet, in particular, thanks to the assistance of Belgacom – ensure that these moments of beauty and emotion that we love to share with you every year will reach a wider audience.