In the musical Brigadoon, an idyllic village rises from the mist of the Scottish Highlands every hundred years, visible only for a single day. The city of Indianapolis can be easily found on a map any day, but every four years it briefly becomes the centre of the violin world.
Since 1982, the capital of the state called “the crossroads of America” hosts the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, bringing the most promising young violinists together in the Midwest from around the world. The 12th Quadrennial Competition took place from 17th September through 4th October, offering a packed schedule of recitals, chamber music and thrilling concerti performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
The festival’s jury – led since 1994 by Jaime Laredo and featuring several past laureates of the competition – awarded the Gold Medal to American violinist Karisa Chiu. Elli Choi, also representing the United States, took the Silver Medal, while Chinese competitor Aozhe Zhang won Bronze. Xunyue Zhang (China), Yesong Sophie Lee (United States) and Lina Nakano (Japan) placed as laureates.
The competition places enormous demands upon its young hopefuls. The process begins with 38 participants representing ten countries, who are initially invited to perform a preliminary recital. From the starting group, 16 semifinalists advance to a second recital series, which includes the premiere of a commissioned work by a prominent composer. This cycle, the IVCI chose Jessie Montgomery – an accomplished violinist herself – who delivered the lush and haunting Rhapsody no. 3 (“The White Rabbit”).
“It has been a real thrill to serve as the guest composer for this year’s International Violin Competition,” Montgomery said. “I had the great pleasure of hearing all 16 semifinal performances, and I’ve come away with at least 16 new ways of thinking about my own work. It’s incredibly exciting to bring a new work into the violin repertoire and to hear it come to life in the hands of such talented musicians.”
The six finalists who remain after the semifinal round must then perform two concertos: first, a Mozart concerto performed with the conductor-less East Coast Chamber Orchestra, and then a work from the standard violin repertoire with the ISO. During the chamber performance, the finalists also offer an orchestrated Kreisler encore, arranged for string ensemble by past laureate Jaakko Kuusisto.
The three medalists brought their distinct personalities to the familiar works, while also managing to demonstrate every trick in the violin playbook. Performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major, Chiu exhibited a showman’s flair, while never sacrificing beauty of tone for mere speed and agility. Choi’s reading of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor was rich with rubato and a deep, chestnut-colored sound that made the work positively sing. Despite being the competition’s youngest finalist – freshly 18 – Aozhe Zhang brought a thoughtful solemnity to the Sibelius Violin Concerto in D minor, often finding new accents in that most popular of showpieces.
In addition to the Gold Medal, Chiu received several other awards at the competition’s closing ceremony, including Best Performance of a Classical Concerto; Best Performance of a Violin-Piano Sonata (other than Beethoven); Best Performance of a Beethoven Violin Sonata; Best Performance of a Kreisler Encore; Best Performance of Jessie Montgomery’s Rhapsody no. 3; and Best Performance of an Encore piece.
Although the Gold Medalist tends to come away with the most awards, you leave the competition with the feeling that everyone’s a winner. Case in point: although Nakano placed sixth in the overall rankings, she received the prestigious award for Best Concerto in the Finals. Nakano’s performance of Bartók’s fiendishly difficult Violin Concerto no. 2 impressed the judges and audience not only for its technical acumen, but also for the surprisingly lyricism she brought to a work that can often seem cerebral and even alienating.
The IVCI has the power to turn a promising student into a popular soloist overnight. Part of this comes from the generous benefits package offered to the winner: in addition to a $75,000 cash prize, the Gold Medalist also received a recital debut at Carnegie Hall, a recording contract and four years of professional development, including artist management and website construction. But even without these prizes, the prestige and goodwill amassed by the competition over the past 44 years speaks for itself.
As the top laureate, Chiu also earned the right to perform with the 1683 “ex-Gingold” Stradivarius over the next four years. The violin was owned by the competition’s late founder, Josef Gingold, who served as Concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra before becoming a renowned pedagogue at Indiana University. Along with the violin, Chiu also received a rose-gold mounted pernambuco bow, crafted by the New York-based bowmaker Ronald Ji.
Leonard Slatkin returned as conductor for the third time. “It is not because I love competitions,” he told Bachtrack. “In fact, I have mostly avoided them during my career. My connection to The Indianapolis is more personal, and it has to do with my deep respect for Josef Gingold and my friendship with Jaime Laredo. At this point, I do not know what kind of shape I will be in four years from now, but it has certainly been my privilege to take part in this esteemed tradition.”
Slatkin might be an established hand at orchestral conducting, but he relishes the unique opportunities afforded by the IVCI’s setup.
“The biggest difference between conducting for a competition and a traditional concert is the opportunity to work with six soloists as opposed to one,” he said. “As usual, I have to internalise the artistic choices each performer is making throughout their piece. This becomes more complicated when two or more finalists play the same concerto, possibly in very different ways, as occurred this time. The conductor’s job is to provide maximum support for each contestant, treating all the soloists equally to ensure a seamless collaborative process.”
In an interview with Bachtrack last year, 2006 Gold Medalist Augustin Hadelich said in no uncertain terms that winning the competition changed his life. “The competition win lifted my spirits and gave me new confidence that perhaps I could make it after all,” he told this publication. Twenty years later, Hadelich is one of the world’s most in-demand soloists and a professor at Yale School of Music.
Juliette Kang first learned about the IVCI as a student at the Curtis Institute of Music in the years after the first quadrennial. She went on to win the 1994 competition, also with the Tchaikovsky concerto. Today, she holds the position of First Associate Concertmaster with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
“It felt like the pinnacle of competitions,” Kang said in an interview. “I feel like I grew up knowing about it.”
More than 30 years after winning, Kang said the memory of her competition performance remains emblazoned in her mind. “I remember I played a little bit too fast,” she recalled with a laugh. “I rushed a bit in the Tchaikovsky, and I was feeling like I shouldn’t have done that. But it was exciting. My teacher at the time, Robert Mann, encouraged me to go for broke. I don’t remember his exact words, but he said something like, let it all go.”
The impact of the IVCI win was instantaneous. “It was the biggest thing that ever happened to me artistically and professionally up to that point,” Kang said.
“There was a lot of publicity, a lot of notice. My agent at the time was able to immediately book a whole slew of concerts off the prestige of this competition.” There’s no doubt that Chiu, Choi and the other laureates of the 12th Quadrennial will soon find themselves similarly in demand.
More information on the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.
This article was sponsored by the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.
