The VIII International Saulius Sondeckis Competition for Young Violinists and Cellists continues in Šiauliai.

On the second day of the competition, the youngest performers were awarded. In Category A of the violin competition, first place was awarded to Simon Lacroix (Belgium) (teacher Véronique Bogaerts, accompanist Arūnas Staškus). Two second places went to Lithuania’s representative Aniceta Mikutaitė from the National M. K. Čiurlionis School of Arts (teacher Saulė Kondrotaitė, accompanist Aleksandras Vizbaras) and Estonia’s representative Denis Khvichia (teacher Kaido Välja, accompanist Arūnas Staškus). Incidentally, Aniceta Mikutaitė also received a special nomination for the best performance of a Lithuanian piece. Third place went to the young Latvian violinist Nora Gauja (teacher Nelli Sarkisjana, accompanist Arūnas Staškus).

Among the youngest Category A cellists, the best performance was delivered by Eliyahu Omarli Maruflenko representing Spain and Finland (teacher Taro Aarnio, accompanist Sergej Liachnovič). Two Latvian representatives were awarded second place diplomas - Elizabeta Barkānė (teacher Arta Tarasova, concertmaster Jānis Karpovičs) and Jēkabs Dubinskis (teacher Anita Roze, concertmaster Gertrūda Krauksta).

The VIII International Saulius Sondeckis Competition for Young Violinists will continue on June 25.

Photo by Zenonas Ripinskis.