Stephen Waarts
(c) Matt Dine
17 years old American violinist Stephen Waarts and 14 years old Japanes Rennosuke Fukuda won First Prize in the Seniar resp. the Junior Division of the Menuhin Competition 2014 in Austin, Texas. Stephen Waarts had been the 2nd Prize winner in the Junior Division of the Menuhin Competition Oslo 2010. He returned to the competition’s Senior Division this year to be awarded 1st Prize in an amazingly strong Senior Final round.« If Yehudi Menuhin were here tonight, he would be absolutely thrilled as to what happened to this competition, » said competition Artistic Director Gordon Back. « Tonight you have witnessed some of the best playing you’ll hear in any competition, in any city, of any age. »
Announcing the winners, jury chairman Pamela Frank said, « I would like to thank these young players. Tonight was a culmination not only of a celebration of the violin, but also a celebration of music in general. We have four fantastic artists in our midst, and we will hear more from them. The big winner is the music world, to have you all in it. »
The winners are:
1st Prize: Stephen Waarts, 17, (American-Dutch)
2nd Prize: In Mo Yang, 18 (Korean)
3rd Prize: Christine Seohyun Lim, 19 (American-Korean)
4th Prize: Stephen Kim, 18 (American)
The Junior Finals came to an end with the following result:
1st Prize: Rennosuke Fukuda (14, Japan)
2nd Prize: Daniel Lozakovitj (12, Sweden)
3rd Prize: Ludvig Gudim (15, Norway)
4th Prize: Alex Zhou (12, USA)
5th Prize: Jaewon Wee (14, Korea)
