2013 Competition > Keeping Up With The Play > Sat 1 June 2013

Competition Underway Today

The 2013 Michael Hill International Violin Competition gets underway this morning with the first round during which each semi-finalist plays a Bach sonata and a Mozart concerto.

First to perform is Australian Sujin Park who last night told us she had hoped not to be first or last “but that’s my luck and I’m not thinking about it too much”. American semi-finalists Stephen Tavani and David Radzynski follow.

We welcomed all the semi-finalists yesterday with a powhiri followed by the draw of the order and we caught up with New Zealand semi-finalist Natalie Lin who is excited about performing on home territory and has her grandparents with her supporting her. She competes ninth on the programme today at 3.15pm.

We also met and heard from our panel of judges about the role competitions play. It’s always a thrill seeing the incredible calibre of the judging panel and this year, for the first time, we have a returning winner – Feng Ning – on the panel.

And what a treat last night to hear 2011 winner Sergey Malov perform, accompanied by pianist Sarah Watkins and joined by Ben Baker for Bach’s three-part inventions for violin and violoncello. Ben and Sergey were obviously enjoying playing these short pieces written by Bach as exercises for his students and particularly his son Wilhelm Friedemann.

Sergey earlier described the programme of Bach, Schnittke, Falla and Stravinsky as “sweet suites”.

As well as live streaming all rounds of the competition, you can vote for your favourite violinist throughout the competition. We’ll be updating throughout the day as we catch up with the competitors and judges.