The Paganini Competition (aka Premio Paganini or Paganini Concore) is an international violin competition named after the famed virtuoso and founder of contemporary violin technique Niccolò Paganini. Created in 1954 it has been carried out ever since in the months of September and October. The "Paganini Competition" is one of the most important violin competitions. It is held every two years at "Carlo Felice" theatre in Genoa, Italy. There are three levels of competition: preliminaries, semi-finals, and finals and repertoire that is played includes solo violin, violin and piano accompaniment, and violin and orchestra.

Participation

Participants are of all nationalities and are between 15 and 31 years of age.

Competition

Preliminaries: Preliminary repertoire includes two selections for solo violin or violin and piano accompaniment and two Caprices from Paganini's 24 Caprices, Op.1 M.S. 25 for solo violin. Semi-Finals: Three or four selections for solo violin or violin and piano, one virtuoso piece by Paganini, and one contemporary piece. Finals: Two pieces with orchestra that may be a whole concerto or part of a concerto. One of the two pieces is always by Paganini.

The Judges

There are eight judges. They are all musicians, usually violinists, but sometimes composers, conductors, or other musicians. Controversy ensued prior to the 2018 competition when, in February 2018, Fabio Luisi resigned as chairman of the competition, in protest at his perceived imposition of judges by the Italian cultural official Elisa Serafini.

Award

Six musicians place, though occasionally seven have been awarded the prize. Since 1989 special placement has been awarded. It is no longer possible to be joint winners. The player selected by the judges, however, will be given the honor of playing one of Paganini's violins and one of the most known violin owned by Paganini, the Il Cannone made by Guarneri 'Del Gesu', and is often offered recording contracts.

Special awards

Winners

Breakdown of winners and finalists by nationality

Highest number of prizes held (minimum 3)

Past prize-winners

I Edition - 1954

not assigned

II Edition - 1955

III Edition - 1956

IV Edition - 1957

V Edition - 1958

VI Edition - 1959

VII Edition - 1960

VIII Edition - 1961

IX Edition - 1962

X Edition - 1963

XI Edition - 1964

XII Edition - 1965

XIII Edition - 1966

XIV Edition - 1967

XV Edition - 1968

XVI Edition - 1969

XVII Edition - 1970

XVIII Edition - 1971

XIX Edition - 1972

XX Edition - 1973

XXI Edition - 1974

XXII Edition - 1975

XXIII Edition - 1976

XXIV Edition - 1977

XXV Edition - 1978

XXVI Edition - 1979

XXVII Edition - 1980

XXVIII Edition - 1981

XXIX Edition - 1982

XXX Edition - 1983

XXXI Edition - 1984

XXXII Edition - 1985

XXXIII Edition - 1986

XXXIV Edition - 1987

XXXV Edition - 1988

XXXVI Edition - 1989

XXXVII Edition - 1990

XXXVIII Edition - 1991

XXXIX Edition - 1992

XL Edition - 1993

XLI Edition - 1994

XLII Edition - 1995

XLIII Edition - 1996

XLIV Edition - 1997

XLV Edition - 1998

XLVI Edition - 1999

XLVII Edition - 2000

XLVIII Edition - 2001

IL Edition - 2002

L Edition - 2004

LI Edition - 2006

LII Edition - 2008

LIII Edition - 2010

LIV Edition - 2015

LV Edition - 2018

LVI Edition - 2021

LVII Edition - 2023

Video recordings

Sources