Accordi Musicali Cello Competition Wraps Up; Matthias Balzat Declared as Winner

The first contest within Accordi Musicali’s competition series has now concluded, with the full list of award-winners being announced.

Organised as part of the 2024 Accordi Musicali Academy, this series will see students of four different instruments come together from all around the world to put their musical skills and abilities to the test against their peers for a total prize fund of €27,000.

Held from the 30th of July to the 9th of August, this event is featuring contests in the schools of saxophone, clarinet, violin, and cello, each of which is presided over by a prestigious jury board consisting of some of the most acclaimed names in the contemporary music world.

The contest for cello kicked off proceedings, taking place from July 30th to August 1st, and it was judged by Alexander Chaushian (UK/Armenia), Gloria Kim (South Korea), Massimo Magri (Italy), Tim Park (Germany), and Ignatius Sokal (Poland/UK).

Following two rounds of intense competition, with participants presenting pieces from David Popper, Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy, Franz Joseph Haydn, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, and Composer-in-Residence Alexey Shor, the judges put forward the final standings, with Matthias Balzat (Germany/New Zealand) being declared as the winner, Marie Viard (France) coming in second place, and Caterina Isaia (Italy) taking the third spot.

This means that, in addition to the honour of victory, Balzat has won €5,000 in cash, while Viard has been awarded €3,000, and Isaia takes €1,000.

With the cellists now behind us, all eyes turn to the competition for saxophone and clarinet, which will take place from the 2nd to the 4th of August, with participants in this event set to showcase their abilities in front of panel made up of Hayrapet Arakelyan (Germany/China), Nicolas Arsenijevic (France), Alan Chircop (Malta), Philippe Cuper (France), Simone Simonelli (Italy), Antonio Tinelli (Italy/Switzerland), and Yang Tong (China).

After this comes the violin competition, which will range from the 7th to the 9th of August, with participants’ performances in this contest set to be analysed and evaluated by Carmelo Andriani (Italy), Boris Brovtsyn (Austria), Alibek Kabdurakhmanov (Uzbekistan), Francesco Manara (Italy), and Carlo Parazzoli (Italy).