Matthew Hakkarainen, who represented the United States and Finland, won the Second Prize, while Maja Horvat from Slovenia received the Third Prize as well as a special award for the best performance of Wajnberg’s piece.
The jury congratulated all the six finalists for an exceptionally high level of performance.
Coman, 23, is a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He has led the Academy’s Chamber Orchestra under Trevor Pinnock and gave a solo recital at London’s Wigmore Hall. His dedication and talent have earned him the Royal Philharmonic Society's Emily Anderson Prize.
The competition concludes with Sunday’s prizewinners concert which coincides with the 105th anniversary of Wajnberg’s birth.
Launched in 2021, the Wajnberg International Violin Competition aims to promote the composer’s legacy, which, in addition to numerous string quartets and chamber works for various instruments, comprises over twenty symphonies, six operas, and songs.
Born in Warsaw in 1909, Wajnberg was a Polish Jew who escaped the Nazis by fleeing into the Soviet Union. In 1943 he settled in Moscow, where he worked as a composer and pianist. In 1953, he was arrested as part of Stalin’s anti-Semitic purges, but was released after Stalin’s death thanks to support from his close friend Dmitri Shostakovich. He died in Moscow in 1996. The past two decades have seen a revival of interest in Wajnberg’s music.
(mk/mo)