From May 10 to May 17, the European Foundation for Support of Culturepresented the Classic Strings International Festival and Competition
for violinists and violists that was held for the first time in Riga, capital of Latvia.
Riga is a European city with long and rich cultural traditions and is on the
list of UNESCO World Cultural Sites.
The Festival was graced with participation of such imminent artists
as violinist Karen Shahgaldyan, artistic director of the Festival; violinist
Guy Bronstein, soloist of the Berlin Philharmonic; pianist Frederic Kempf,
prize-winner of the XI International Tchaikovsky Competition; Sergey
Smbatyan, director of the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, one the
most talented conductors of our days; Andris Poga, winner of international
competitions, principal conductor and artistic director of the National
Symphony Orchestra of Latvia. All concerts were held in the most
prestigious concert halls of the city – in the Grand Guild and the Vitols
Latvian Academy of Music supported by the Latvian National Symphony
Orchestra. Works of known European composers were performed.
The jury consisted of of Eva Bindere, professor at the Music Academy
of Latvia; Weng Zhou, professor at the Royal Academy in Birmingham;
Mike Rio, artist of the Deutsche Grammophon; Nie Bing, president of the
Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra; Grigory Livontin, director of the Svetlanov
State Academic Symphonic Orchestra; Peter Grote, artistic director of
numerous international competitions such as the Tchaikovsky Competition
and the Harbin Musical Competition in China; Alexander Buzlov and Boris
Andrianov, winners of the Tchaikovsky Competition and others.
The total prize pool of the competition was Eur 40,000.