The final pool of entrants will be chosen by the end of April by an international selection panel on the basis of the candidates’ recordings of four pieces by Paganini, Bach and Beethoven.
The most sizeable groups of applicants are from Poland, Germany, the United States, Austria, Japan, China and South Korea.
Held for the first time in Warsaw in 1935, the Wieniawski Competition is the world’s oldest violin competition. It moved to Poznań after 17 years and has been held in that city every five years since 1952.
The 16th Wieniawski Competition opens on October 7.
Past prizewinners include Ginette Neveu, David Oistrakh, Ida Haendel and Grażyna Bacewicz.
Henry Wieniawski (1835-1880) was a child prodigy who entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of eight. He is regarded as one of the greatest violinists after Paganini. His compositional output includes two violin concertos, mazurkas, polonaises, etudes and caprices.
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