Three Grand finalists at the Bartók World Competition & Festival

At the Final round, it was not Bartók that the 1 male and 6 female contestants of five countries played,  but they could choose from three Mozart violin concertos (No. 3., 4. and 5.) and perform those in the Solti Hall at the Liszt Academy filled with spectators.:„In the Finals, the young violinist have had to prove themselves by performing the concertos of Bartók and other composers” –as was stated by the President of the Liszt Academy, Dr. Andrea Vigh, initiator and founder of the Competition. Three competitors played Mozart’s Violin Concerto in G major, while the other four musicians interpreted the other two concertos.

Based on the decision of the international jury, the French-Dutch Cosima Soulez-Larivière, the Japanese Takagi Ririko and the Hungarian Ágnes Langer were shortlisted to participate in the Grand Final.

Born in Budapest in 1992, Agnes Langer began playing the violin at the age of six. After early successes in Hungary at the 2003 Eduard Zathurecky National Competition and the Balys Dvarionas International Competition in the same year, as well as the Bartok National Violin Duo Competition, Ms Langer was awarded the 3rd and the Audience Prize at the 2009 Yankelevich International Competition in Siberia and 2nd prize at the Spivakov International Competition in 2016. Ms Langer moved to Germany in 2005 to study with Professor Anne Shih at the Hochschule für Musik Mainz.

Ágnes Langer, Gergely Ménesi and Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (Photo: Liszt Academy / Zoltán Adrián)

Cosima Soulez Larivière, born in 1996, has been playing the violin since the age of three. When she was eight, she was awarded a scholarship to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School, where she became Nathasha Boyarsky’s student. In 2010, Ms Soulez Larivière was finalist in the International Spohr Competition in Weimar, Germany. In 2015, she obtained the 3rd and the Bach prize at the Postacchini Competition. She has participated in masterclasses with Zakhar Bron, Dora Schwarzberg, Lewis Kaplan, Zvi Zeitlin and Dmitri Berlinsky. She was awarded the Deutschlandstipendium in 2016.

Cosima Soulez-Larivière (Photo: Liszt Academy / Zoltán Adrián)

Takagi Ririko first received critical acclaim in 2004, when she won first prize both at the Japanese Players and at the Senzoku-Gakuen junior competition. She debuted in 2010, sponsored by the Yokohama City Music Association, and in the same year she won the 4th Yokohama International Competition and was granted the scholarship of the Yamaha Music Foundation. Following her 2011 success in Japan, in 2012 and 2013, she also took to the stage at the Ost-West Music Fest in Austria.  She repeatedly came first at the Euroasia International Competition in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Currently, she is participating in the M.A. programme of the Tokyo National University of Arts, in the class of Takashi Shimizu.

Takagi Ririko, Gergely Ménesi and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra (Photo: Liszt Academy / Zoltán Adrián)

The performances at the Final round were accompanied by the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra conducted by Gergely Ménesi.

The audience will be able to enjoy the Grand Final Saturday evening in the Grand Hall of the Liszt Academy, but the event will also be streamed online.