Auditions for the 8th International Saulius Sondeckis Young Violinist and Cellist Competition ended on June 27

Auditions for the 8th International Saulius Sondeckis Young Violinist and Cellist Competition ended on June 27. In the second round of the B category for violinists, a fierce battle for the title of winner took place between five participants. After listening to all the participants, the International Jury awarded first place to Eloisa Marie Aubert from Luxembourg (teacher prof. Zakhar Bron, concertmaster Dina Zlatdinova), who was also awarded a diploma for the best performance of a Lithuanian composer. Second place was awarded to two young Lithuanian violinists – Agne Marozaitė (teacher Nijolė Prascevičienė, concertmaster Irina Tautkuvienė) and Bernadeta Januškaitė (teacher Rusnė Mataitytė, concertmaster Julian Germanovič). Two third-place awards were also awarded. They were won by Estonian violinists Eleanor Susanna Türk and Annaliisa Aren (both violinists’ teacher Kaido Vӓlja, concertmaster Sergej Liachnovič).

In the third round of the senior violinists’ category D, first place was won by Czech violinist Richard Kollert (teacher prof. Zakhar Bron, Jiří Vodička, concertmaster Arūnas Staškus). Second place was not awarded, and third place was won by Latvian violinist Pēteris Caune (teacher Evgenia Epshtein, concertmaster Sergej Liachnovič).

In the cellist category D, first place was won by Maksim Skibickis from Latvia (teacher Diana Ozolina, concertmaster Ērika Jākobsone).

The Grand Prix winners in the violin and cellist categories of the 8th International Saulius Sondeckis Young Violinists’ Competition will be announced on June 30 at the final gala concert, which will take place in Šiauliai Concert Hall „Saulė“ at 6 p.m. (Entrance is by invitation, which can be downloaded from ticketmarket.lt).

The concert of the competition winners and performers will be held on June 28 at 4 p.m. at the Šeduva Jewish History Museum "The Lost Shtetl". Admission is free.

Photo by Zenonas Ripinskis.