Whilst most luthiers seem to be men, the shortlist for Menuhin Competition 2016, is dominated by females. In the Strad’s March 2013 issue, violin maker Ute Zahn asked why there are so few female violin makers. One might assume that it’s something to do with the machines and physical work required to make a violin. However Zahn concludes that violin making is for ‘anyone with patience, passion, aptitude and determination.’ These are also some of the requirements for violin playing; it is extraordinary that out of 22 entrants in the senior category, only one is male and in the junior section there are 15 girls and only seven boys.
Ziyu He, 16 is the only male candidate competing in the senior category. Although Austrian, he was born in and is representing China. He started playing at the age of five and since October 2011, Ziyu lives and studies in Salzburg at the Leopold Mozart Institute of the Mozarteum University.
Ziyu He/ esc-plus
There are seven candidates from South Korea in the senior category but could the winner come from the UK? With two entrants this year, this is the highest number of British competitors for twenty years. Indeed in a letter to The Times earlier this week, Julian Lloyd Webber accused the government of trying to squeeze arts subjects out of schools. Certainly compared with China, Korea and Japan, it would seem that children in Britain are given fewer opportunities and encouragement to study music or take up a musical instrument. Schools have minuscule budgets for music education and simply can’t afford to provide children with instruments and regular music classes. James Rhodes, TV presenter and classical pianist makes the point that schools would never require students to bring their own footballs and rugby balls for sports classes. There is however one privileged primary school where every student owns a violin, this is the exception though!
Juliette Roos, 20 along with Louisa Staples, 15 and Mathilde Milwidsky, 21 are the three outstanding violinists who will be fighting it out in the senior category for the UK.
Roos was in the strings final for BBC Young Musician 2012, she won her first prize at the age of six and has performed as soloist, in orchestra, chamber ensembles and in masterclasses ever since.
The 2016 Menuhin Competition takes place at Royal Academy of Music, London from 7-17 April. It is Yehudi Menuhin’s Centenary; the 11 day festival features major concerts from London’s best orchestras and international soloists celebrating all things Menuhin. Given the unprecedented number of females shortlisted for this year’s competition, it looks likely that a girl will win. What does the next one hundred years of the Menuhin’s legacy have in store for us?
