May 2, 2025

The preliminary selection for the first edition of the Cantus Firmus International Violin Competition, Sofia has ended. The jury admitted 17 young violinists under the age of 30 from all over the world to the competition, who will arrive in Sofia to show their abilities in the extremely difficult program of the competition. Among them are musicians from Austria, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Portugal, Poland, Japan, China, South Korea, the USA, as well as 3 representatives from Bulgaria, who also managed to cope with this first selection of participants. The youngest participants are 18 years old, and the oldest - 28 years old. The competition is realized with the financial support of the National "Culture" Fund, the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture and in partnership with the New Bulgarian University.

The competition auditions will take place from May 9 to 11 in the concert hall of the National Music School "Lyubomir Pipkov". In the first round, the young violinists will perform violin sonatas by L. van Beethoven, M. Ravel or C. Debussy, a virtuoso work of their choice, as well as a piece by Fritz Kreisler on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the great Austrian violinist and composer. The jury, consisting of Prof. Mario Hosen, Prof. Michael Frischenschlager, Prof. Pavel Vernikov, Prof. Rūta Lipinaitytė-Savickienė and Prof. Philip Draganov, will select only 6 candidates who will be given the right to continue to the next stage of the competition. The repertoire for the semi-final, which will take place on May 10, includes a part of the major violin concertos by Beethoven, Brahms, Paganini, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Wieniawski, Prokofiev, as well as the First Violin Concerto by Pancho Vladigerov. Three of the best performers in this round will win the right to play in the final gala concert on May 11 in the Bulgaria Hall accompanied by the Camerata Orphica NBU orchestra and conductor Christian Schulz. Mandatory pieces here are the violin concertos No. 3, No. 4 or No. 5 by V. A. Mozart, as well as the new composition Canticum for violin and orchestra, created especially for the competition by Georgi Arnaudov. The jury will decide on the final ranking during the concert, and at the end of the evening, the award ceremony will take place. The concert is part of the program of the 25th European Music Festival, which is realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and the Sofia Municipality - Calendar of Cultural Events of the Sofia Municipality for 2025. Partners for the event are NBU and the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra.

7 young violinists aged 15 - 17 from Bulgaria will participate in the separate additional Youth Group. They will compete in one round on May 10, but on May 8, the young people will have the opportunity to work with some of the jury members in a Masterclass for the preparation of the repertoire.

The Bulgarian violinist Yoanna Kamenarska will not participate in the jury due to illness.