BEIJING, CHINA, July 12—The Global Music Education League Violin Competition announces its full resumption after a three-year suspension due to the pandemic. The competition is organized by the Global Music Education League (GMEL), together with the China Conservatory of Music and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and is scheduled to run from Nov. 3 to 13, 2023 in Beijing.
Professor Liguang Wang, chairman of the Global Music Education League will serve as the president of the Global Music Education League Violin Competition. He is delighted to have secured Professor Bin Huang as chairman of the jury and Mr. Tristan Rais-Sherman, conducting fellow of The Philadelphia Orchestra, to lead the final round.
The distinguished jury members of the competition made up of nine violinists with international standing include Bin Huang (chairman of the jury), Giovanni Angeleri, Fridemann Eichhorn, Lorenz Nasturica-Herschcowici, Mariusz Patyra, Lucie Robert, Joel Smirnoff, Weidong Tong and Pavel Vernikov.
The competitors, all between 16 and 30 years of age, will come from two sources: the selected applicants from Prescreening Round and laureates of world-leading violin competitions.
The Global Music Education League will award a first prize of US $100,000 and a gold medal, a second prize of US $65,000 and a silver medal, and a third prize of US $30,000 and a jade medal to the top three winners of the competition. The gold medalist will also gain a three-year contract with major international artist management companies for international concert tours.
All competitors will perform a recital in the Preliminary Round. 12 violinists will be selected by the jury to advance to the Semifinal Round and perform another recital with one of the four specially invited illustrious pianists, Chih-Yi Chen, Rohan De Silva, Beilin Han and Thomas Hoppe. In the first phase of the Final Round, 6 violinists will perform a Mozart violin concerto with the Orchestra Academia China, and then 3 finalists will be chosen to play the second phase of the Final Round with the orchestra composed of musicians from The Philadelphia Orchestra and Orchestra Academia China.
“Music can become a great force that promotes world peace and the advancement of human civilization. This is the mission of the GMEL. It is also the very reason this competition was organized,” said Liguang Wang, the initiator of both the GMEL and the event, to the inaugural competition of 2019, as well as the competition of 2013. “It is my hope that the competition can become a cultural brand for Beijing, one that faces the world. I also hope that our competition can become a platform for launching the great musicians of the future. Bearing the stamp of the competition, they will surely one day become musical ambassadors promoting world peace.”
“The competition will host some of the most talented young violinists from all over the world and a jury panel of internationally renowned musicians and educators. It will be a big musical feast which is both culturally and educationally invaluable,” said Bin Huang, director of the Orchestral Instrument Department of the China Conservatory of Music.
“The Philadelphia Orchestra is honored to be part of the Global Music Education League’s inaugural music competition in 2019, and we are excited our partnership continues, so we can keep providing more training and development opportunities for these musicians,” said Ryan Fleur, executive director of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association.
More information about repertoire requirements, prizes, and rules and regulations can be found on the competition’s website, www.cimcompetition.org.
Global Music Education League Violin Competition
Global Music Education League Violin Competition, originally launched in 2019 as The China International Music Competition, takes "promoting the exchange of different music cultures and cultivating the world peace ambassadors of music" as its missions. Renamed after its organizer the Global Music Education League, the competition brings together outstanding musicians from all over the world to form a jury, and collaborates with the world's top orchestras and music institutions to build the highest level of exchange and exposure for generations of young musicians.
The competition is designed to be annual, with disciplines of piano and violin alternately. The First China International Music Competition in 2019 is the piano competition.
The Global Music Education League
The Global Music Education League (GMEL) is a global non-governmental and non-profit academic organization established in September, 2017 in Beijing. It was initiated by Professor Liguang Wang, a prominent contemporary Chinese composer, and co-founded by thirty leading music institutions from North America, Europe, Oceania and Asia, and now has eighty-five member institutions in total.
The League’s objectives are to build a world-class academic community and a platform for talent training, as well as music research, creation, performance, and resource sharing. Furthermore, the League strives to foster global music education, to promote the inheritance and development of different musical genres and cultures and the establishment of music schools around the world; to enhance communication and collaboration among international music institutions; to create an internationalized musical education system in line with developing trends for global music education; and to further the development of traditional and classical music of different cultures around the world. Moreover, the League seeks to use music’s unique power to eliminate misunderstandings, promote individual well-being, and make music an ambassador for world peace.
The League is also dedicated to bringing together authorities in music scholarship from around the world, advancing the integration of high-quality resources, establishing collaborative training programs, facilitating teacher exchanges and visits, achieving the mutual recognition of diplomas and credit, organizing high-quality international music competitions and academic activities, implementing the strategy of “Music Culture Diplomacy,” advocating exchange and dialogue between Chinese and Western music cultures, and building a musical community for humanity.
China Conservatory of Music
Long regarded as the “Cradle of Chinese Musicians,” China Conservatory of Music has been devoted to the training of professionals in theory, creation, and performance of traditional Chinese and Western music since its founding in 1964. The Conservatory confers Bachelor’s, Master’s, and doctoral degrees in music and dance as well as MFA degrees in music and dance. It is China’s only school offering a doctorate in musical performance research, and also maintains the Music and Dance Postdoctoral Research Center.
The Conservatory has formed an integrated multilevel teaching system centered on the theory, creation, and performing of Chinese music, and includes eleven departments: Music, Composition, Voice and Opera, Chinese Instruments, Music Education, Piano, Art Management, Conducting, Orchestral Instruments, Music Technology, and Social Science. The Conservatory also houses the Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Chinese National School of Music, a graduate school, a continuing education college, and a middle school.
With numerous high esteemed teachers, China Conservatory of Music is a national leader in all its disciplines. It has attracted countless influential musicians and talent over five decades and has added nearly ten thousand outstanding alumni to the global music industry in various disciplines.
The Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of the preeminent orchestras in the world, renowned for its distinctive sound, desired for its keen ability to capture the hearts and imaginations of audiences, and admired for a legacy of innovation in music-making. The Orchestra is inspiring the future and transforming its rich tradition of achievement, sustaining the highest level of artistic quality, but also challenging—and exceeding—that level by creating powerful musical experiences for audiences at home and around the world.
Since 1973, when President Nixon asked The Philadelphia Orchestra to be the first US orchestra to perform in China, we have enjoyed a unique and special relationship with China and its people. Through concerts and residency activities, the Orchestra’s work in China has been a bridge for people-to-people cultural, educational, and diplomatic exchange.
Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin triumphantly opened his inaugural season of The Philadelphia Orchestra in the fall of 2012. His highly collaborative style, deeply rooted musical curiosity, and boundless enthusiasm, paired with a fresh approach to orchestral programming, have been heralded by critics and audiences alike. The New York Times has called him “phenomenal,” adding that under his baton, “the ensemble…has never sounded better.”