42 competitors from 10 countries have been selected to participate. These are: USA (9), Korea (9), China (8), Norway (5), Canada (3), UK (2), Japan (2), Poland (2), Sweden (1), Tyrkey (1).
The Menuhin Competition was founded in 1983 by legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin. The competition takes place every other year, and 2010 will be the first year that it has been held outside the UK and France.
Photo: Egil Hofsli"Oslo has a great classical music scene and excellent facilities – both important factors in our choice of Oslo as host city, says Gordon Back, Artistic Director of the Menuhin Competition." 2010 is also the 200th anniversary of the birth of great Norwegian violinist Ole Bull, which made Norway a natural choice for this year,” Back continues.
The 2010 competition is being hosted by five Norwegian music institutions: Barratt Due Music Institute, the Norwegian Academy of Music, the Norwegian Council for Schools of Music and Performing Arts, the Norwegian Opera and Ballet and Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra.
The competitors compete in two classes: Junior (10- 16) and Senior (16- 22). All 42 competitors are required to demonstrate their skills in solo performance, chamber music and improvisation – and, for those who reach the final round, performance with orchestra.
The Menuhin Competition lasts for 10 days and will make its mark on Oslo. The city will be filled with schools concerts, exhibitions, seminars, workshops and surprise musical events throughout the competition period.
A nine-man jury will assess the competitors – among the jurors are Maxim Vengerov, Renaud Capuçon and Lidia Baich as well as top Norwegian musicians Arve Tellefsen and Lars Anders Tomter.
Beijing is scheduled to hold the next competition in 2012 and will be the first non-European host to do so. The handing over of the musical Olympic torch, in this case a violin, will take place at the Closing Gala Concert of this year's competition at the Oslo Opera.