6th Szeged International Harp Competition: summary and photo gallery
The 6th Szeged International Harp Competition was held at the REÖK All-Arts Center between November 29 and December 4, 2022.
This year, 55 young harpists arrived at the internationally renowned event from 19 countries - including Hungary, France, Germany, Serbia, the United States, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Egypt, and Russia, among others. Participants could show their skills in one of the three categories: music school students under 14, high school students up to 19 years old, and artists under 25 years old.
Competition days
The International Harp Competition began with an opening ceremony, where after the welcome speeches the audience could enjoy a concert by Tatiana Repnikova, winner of the U25 category in 2019.
In remembrance of their anniversaries this year, the competition repertoire included works of composers Zoltán Kodály and Alphonse Hasselmans. Jury members included internationally renowned soloists, chamber musicians, orchestra musicians, and teachers.
Contestants of the U14 category performed a free program of 7 minutes, with one movement from Kodály's Children’s Dances. The U19 category had two stages. Stage 1 consisted of a free program of 10 minutes, including the Intermezzo from Kodály's Háry János. At stage 2, harpists performed a free program of 12 minutes, including any piece by A. Hasselmans.
The first stage of the U25 contest consisted of a free program of 10 minutes, including any piece by A. Hasselmans. In stage 2, contestants performed a free program of 25 minutes, including a piece written for harp after 2001, while in the last round - stage 3 - Debussy’s Danses sacrée et profane, accompanied by the Szigeti String Quartet, and a free choice virtuoso encore of maximum 6 minutes duration were performed.
On the last day of the contest, those participants who were not competing in the final round of U25 could participate in a masterclass led by harpist Annie Lavoisier, who was this year's president of the jury of both the U25 and the U14 categories.
Results of the 6th Szeged International Harp Competition
Iranian Shamim Minoo won the first prize in the U25 category, while Zoé Buyck from France got second, and Irina Pejoska from Serbia finished in third place.
The Special Prize of the category, offered by the City of Szeged, was given to English harpist Heather Brooks.
In the category of high school students up to 19 years old, the first prize went to Giedra Julija Tutkuté from Lithuania, while Martin Sadílek from the Czech Republic finished second. Silvia Capè from Italy and Ligia Nowak from Poland finished tied for third place.
In the U19 category, Giedra Julija Tutkuté received the Sebők György Special Prize for the best performance of Intermezzo from Kodály's Háry János. The prize was offered by Florence Sitruk.
South Korean harpist Chaewon Kim received the first prize in the U14 category. Lithuanian Liné Lipnickaité finished tied for second place with Hungarian Kornélia Harmath, a student of the Király-König Péter Music School in Szeged. Singaporean Bei Lin Phang, Austrian Amelie Jade Kapp, and Serbian Maryam Amro all finished in third place in the U14.
Eva Maria Kochs from Germany received the Sebők György Special Prize, offered by Florence Sitruk, for the best performance of Kodály's Children's Dances. The Special Prize of the U14 category, offered by Svetlana Paramonova, was awarded to Valentina Ramos from the USA.
The Szeged International Harp Competition and Camac Harps
The Szeged International Harp Competition was started in 2007 by Natalia Gorbunova, harpist of the Szeged Symphony Orchestra and harp teacher at the Király-König Péter Music School. The competition is held every three years and offers an opportunity for young musicians to measure how much they have improved. Over the years, the contest became widely recognized, welcoming over 300 participants from more than 40 countries.
Harpist Anastasia Razvalyaeva, teacher at the Liszt Ferenc University of Music, took over the artistic direction of the competition in 2019. The organizing team is helped by a board of trustees, as well as volunteers. Main supporters of the event include the City of Szeged, the REÖK All-Arts Center, and the Béla Bartók Faculty of Arts of the University of Szeged.
Camac Harps from France has a long relationship with the competition. The harp manufacturer company, founded in Mouzeil in 1972, has been supporting the contest from the very beginning and has been providing the harps for the competition days, as well as the prizes for the finalists ever since.
Images by Szilvia Molnár / Szegedify
Related: 6th International Harp Competition in Szeged starts on November 29
