The 6th International Jascha Heifetz Competition for Violinists

Vilnius is the hometown of legendary virtuoso Jascha Heifetz, one of the most acclaimed violinists in the history of music, and every four years the city hosts an international event to honour the genius performer.  International Jascha Heifetz Competition for Violinists, taking place on 16 January – 2 February and 26-27 May 2021, is organised here already for the sixth time.  Round One of the competition had as many as 49 participants from all over the world. Due to the changed reality of today’s world, the auditions took place online. Yet, the organisers of the competition cherish hopes to hold the final event in May live and listen to the six most brilliant young violinists performing together with the orchestra. 

The musical debut of Jascha Heifetz, a child prodigy born in Vilnius in 1901, took place when the boy was only six while the worldwide recognition came to Heifetz in the USA where the musician settled being just 16 years old.  Famous playwright and Nobel Prize winner George Bernard Shaw was so bewitched by Heifetz’s performance that he once warned the violinist saying that „nothing must be perfect in this world, or else the gods become jealous and destroy it.” The glimmering of an idea to commemorate the luminary musician by organising an international competition had been around for quite a long time, but was put into action only just before Heifetz’s centenary thanks to the initiative taken by Professor Petras Radzevičius, the then Head of the Department of Strings at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. Since the first competition held in 2001, world-famous violinist Gidon Kremer, the founder and artistic director of Kremerata Baltica, has chaired the competition’s board of judges. He is the chairman of the sixth competition too. 

„The 6th International Jascha Heifetz Competition for Violinists is a remarkable event for the Lithuanian violinist community. The competition attracts the attention of young talented musicians and exceptional teachers from all over the world. For the participants, the competition is great motivation, for the listeners – a big celebration, while for the whole Lithuania – it’s a solemn remembrance for all the world commemorating the birthplace of Jascha Heifetz, one of the most prominent violinists of all time. This year, the geography of participants is especially wide: we have received applications from 35 countries from all the continents. The work of the selection board proved to be a challenge – the jury, with their hearts breaking, had to reject a great number of talented violinists.  Because of the influence of the new technologies –  and nowadays too due to the global pandemic – lots of different concerts are being performed in the virtual space. The participants are taking this situation as an enormous challenge – how to perform so that your energy going through all those technologies reaches the hearts of the jury?“, shares the competition jury member, Head of LMTA String Department, Prof. Dr. Rūta Lipinaitytė speaking about the importance of the competition and the additional challenges for the contestants incurred by the virtual format of the competition. 

Round One featured 49 violinists from Lithuania, Latvia, Austria, Russia, Spain, France, Bulgaria, Italy, Azerbaijan, Switzerland, the United States, Ukraine, South Korea, Germany, Japan, Canada, Australia, Belgium, and China. 

Six violinists – Leonard Toschev (Germany), Amia Janicki (Switzerland), Lorenz Karls (Sweden), Manon Galy (France), Eva Rabchevska (Ukraine), and Javier Comesaña (Spain) – have made it to the final. 

Marija Pranskutė, a student of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, won a special prize for the best Lithuanian performer and has become a candidate for the final of the competition. 

The international jury comprises chairman Gidon Kremer (Latvia) and members Isabelle van Keulen (Denmark), Sergey Krylov (Italy), Rūta Lipinaitytė (Lithuania), Svetlana Makarova (Switzerland), and Rusnė Mataitytė (Lithuania). 

The final of the 6th International Jascha Heifetz Competition for Violinists is to be held at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic on 26-27 May 2021. 

LMTA information
3 February 2021