This year the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Competition is dedicated to the violin and has reached the semi final stage. Some 24 young violin virtuosi will battle it out for the final honour.
Some 78 young violinists took part in the first round and had to give a 15-minute performance combining work by Bach, Paganini and Schumann. Among the 78 competitors were four Belgians, but 21-year-old Marc Bouchkov was the only one to make it into the last 24. The others were Claire Dassesse, Eugenia Ryabinina and Fleming Jolente De Maeyer. Claire Dassesse hails from Brussels, while Eugenia Ryabinina has a Russian background.
South Korea has six musicians in the semi-finals and tops the country list. The United States still have four candidates left, Russia has three. The semi-finals start tomorrow in the Flagey building in Ixelles and run until Saturday.
In the final, 12 competitors will battle it out for the highest honour. The finals will be held in the Brussels Bozar between 21 and 26 May.
Follow the competition at:
http://www.concours-reine-elisabeth.be/
