This follows a decision to postpone this year’s International Chopin Competition in Warsaw until October 2021.
The organizers of the Wieniawski Competition have said that it would be inadvisable to hold two musical events of world stature, in two Polish cities, at the same time, in view of the enormous interest they generate among music lovers. A final decision is expected later this week.
Held for the first time in Warsaw in 1935, the Wieniawski Competition is the world’s oldest violin contest.
It moved to Poznań after 17 years and has been held in that city every five years since 1952. Its past prizewinners include Ginette Neveu, David Oistrakh, Ida Handel, Grażyna Bacewicz, Bartłomiej Nizioł, Piotr Pławner and Agata Szymczewska.
Henry Wieniawski was a child prodigy who entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of eight.
After a 12-year stint as court violinist to Tsar Alexander II, interrupted by numerous concerts in Europe and Russia, he went on a two-year-long tour of the United States, which confirmed his fame and reputation.
His compositional output includes two violin concertos, mazurkas, polonaises, etudes and caprices. He died in 1880, aged 45.
(mk/pk)