Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition

The International Henryk Wieniawski Violin Competition (Polish: Międzynarodowy Konkurs Skrzypcowy im. Henryka Wieniawskiego) is a competition for violinists up to age 30 that takes place every five years in Poznań, Poland, in honor of the virtuoso and composer Henryk Wieniawski (1835–1880).^[1] The first competition took place in 1935 in Warsaw, 100 years after the birth of its patron, and consisted of two stages. The second, after a gap of 17 years in 1952, and subsequent events were held in Poznań in three stages. In 1957 the competition became one of the founding members of the World Federation of International Music Competitions in Geneva. In 2001 it was decided that the competition would henceforth be held in four stages.^[2]

Candidates shall be qualified for the competition subject to preliminary selection auditions run by Maxim Vengerov and another member of the jury.

The following three statutory prizes shall be awarded in the competition: First prize: 30,000 Euro and gold medal; Second prize: 20,000 Euro and silver medal; and Third prize: 12,000 Euro and bronze medal.

Additional prizes include three honorary distinctions of 5,000 Euro and the special extra-statutory prize funded by Maxim Vengerov: 12 individual lessons for one of the competition participants. The first edition of the competition took place in 1935 in Warsaw and drew 160 contestants from 23 countries.^[3] The inaugural winner of the competition was France's Ginette Neveu. One of the participants was also Grażyna Bacewicz who received an honorary diploma and was to become a future juror of the competition. The two first prizes were funded by renowned Polish luthier Tomasz Panufnik.^[4]