A violinist from Russia and a pianist from China win the Yamal Symphony competition

Performers from Russia and China won the Grand Prix of the Yamal Symphony.

Let us remind you that a large international contest of young performers was held in Salekhard for several days. This is the first musical competition of such a high level that took place in the Arctic zone. It gathered fifteen talented performers from Russia, China and France in Salekhard – the only city in the world on the Arctic Circle.

Its solemn closing ceremony took place the day before. Thirteen participants of the contest in various nominations received prizes of 500, 400 and 300 thousand rubles.

The names of the absolute winners – the Grand Prix winners – were announced by the artistic director of the competition, People’s Artist of Russia Denis Matsuev. They were violinist Stefania Pospelkhina from Russia and pianist Ming Rui from China. Each of them deserved a prize of one million rubles.

“Symphony of Yamal” is a unique event for our region. I thank everyone who made efforts to make the competition happen and take place at such a level: the Moscow Academic Symphony Orchestra, the teams of the Yamal Philharmonic and Roskoncert, the high jury and the wonderful participants who are with us today despite all the difficulties,” said Dmitry Artyukhov, Governor of Yamal. – This is the best proof that music and great Russian art unite. People ask me what will happen next. I am very pleased to announce that the contest will become a tradition, and we will hold it every two years”.

In the finale of the large-scale competition, all first prize winners – cellist Bogdan Efremov, violinist Stefania Pospekhina and pianist Zhui Ming from China – performed masterpieces of classical music accompanied by the Moscow State Academic Symphony Orchestra. Compositions by E. Elgar, P. I. Tchaikovsky and S. V. Rachmaninoff were performed.

The competition events lasted four days. Audiences from all over the world were able to enjoy the performers’ skills during auditions and concerts thanks to broadcasts on the competition’s VKontakte and Youtube communities. The broadcasts and diaries of the competition were organized by Roskontsert. They have been watched by more than one and a half million viewers.

“Dmitry Artyukhov’s idea to hold this competition was very opportune,” shared Denis Matsuev. – It proves that the most top competitions, festivals can take place not only in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the regions of the Far North, competitions of this level have never been held before. In this difficult time, people from all over the world came to attend. Such events are needed now like air. They are a therapy, a vaccine anywhere on Earth. The great talents that we discovered today will soon be recognized around the world. They will remember that their careers began here, on Yamal. What was hard to imagine a while ago has happened.

More than 200 pupils of Yamal district art schools and their mentors came to the competition as spectators. Tickets for them were provided free of charge. Everyone was free to attend the auditions.

Jury members Chengxin Huang and Maxim Mogilevsky held hour-long master classes for three scholarship holders of the Yamal Governor. They were listened to by all the children and teachers who came to the competition. The world-famous musicians highly appreciated the young talents’ training.

Synopsis

The Yamal Symphony competition popularizes classical art and helps young gifted musicians to prove themselves at the international level. It is organized by the Yamal Government with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives.