The Michael Hill International Violin Competition is a biennial music competition for violinists aged between 18 and 28. It was founded by Michael Hill in 2001 as the Michael Hill World Violin Competition. Hill remains a major sponsor, claiming that "It is my dream that New Zealand will one day become a much more balanced society with not just wonderful sport – but also wonderful classical music." In 2004, the event became a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions.
The event is held in New Zealand, with the first two semi-final rounds of competition conducted in Queenstown and the third and final rounds held in Auckland. There is a total prize pool of NZ$100,000, with the winner receiving $40,000. In 2009, the events gained about $500,000 worth of sponsorship.
Special guests at the competition have included Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark, and Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Christopher Finlayson.
Laureates Year First prize Second prize Third prize Fourth prize Fifth prize Sixth prize 2001 Joseph Lin Tatiana Samouil Alexandra Osborne 2003 Natalia Lomeiko, Russia Kristian Winther Korbinian Altenberger 2005 Feng Ning, China Yvonne Lam Bartosz Woroch 2007 Bella Hristova Yuuki Wong Stefan Hempel 2009 Josef Špaček Yoo Jin Jang Danbi Um Tessa Lark David McCarroll Dami Kim 2011 Sergey Malov Richard Lin Xiang Yu Nadir Khashimov Eric Silberger Stefani Collins 2013 Nikki Chooi Sarah Christian Boson Mo Wonyoung Jung Ioana Cristina Goicea Natalie Lin 2015 Suyeon Kang Eunae Koh Timothy Chooi Natsumi Tsuboi Elly Suh Marie-Christine Klettner 2017 Ioana Cristina Goicea Luke Hsu Benjamin Baker Olga Šroubková Sumina Studer Kunwha Lee 2019 Anna Do Gyung Im Eric Tsai Jevgēnijs Čepoveckis Angela Sin Ying Chan Hannah Cho Victoria Wong2023 Yeyeong Jin Claire Wells Lorenz Karls Gabrielle Després Eva Rabchevska Aoi Saito2026 Beatrice Colombis Tianyou Ma Jakow Pavlenko Hyein Koo Julia-Xiaohuo Wang Xunyue Zhang
References
External links Michael Hill International Violin Competition