At the Swiss Youth Music Competition which took place between March and May this year, the Zakhar Bron School of Music students won 32 prizes: 17 first prizes (including 9 with distinction), 9 second and 6 third prizes. Three of our students performed at the gala concert.
The Swiss Youth Music Competition is the most important national competition for young musicians in Switzerland. It consists of two parts: Entrada and Finale. The first part takes place in different cities of Switzerland where contestants compete with each other on a regional level. Those participants who win first prizes in this part get to the Finale, which this year took place in Lucerne.
In the Entrada part, 21 ZBSM students won prizes – 11 first prizes (including 6 with distinction), 5 second prizes and five third prizes – in different categories. Here are the names of the winners:
1. 1st prize with distinction: Kimia Corke (10 y.o., violin) – chamber music
2. 1st prize with distinction: Nikita Koller (11 y.o., violin) – chamber music
3. 1st prize with distinction: Eva Solodovska (10 y.o., piano) – chamber music
4. 1st prize with distinction: Vlada Sabella (10 y.o., violin) – chamber music
5. 1st prize with distinction: Katya Gringolts (11 y.o., piano) – chamber music
6. 1st prize with distinction: Sophie Branson (14 y.o., violin) – solo baroque violin
7. 1st prize: Emil Spiess (12 y.o., violin) – solo baroque violin
8. 1st prize: Mila Kovári (11 y.o., piano) – solo piano
9. 1st prize: Nina Gringolts (13 y.o., violin) – chamber music
10. 1st prize: Alexandra Taub (12 y.o., violin) – chamber music
11. 1st prize: Benjamin Branson (12 y.o., cello) – chamber music
12. 2nd prize: Marco Bernardis (10 y.o., violin) – chamber music
13. 2nd prize: Samuel Bernardis (8 y.o., piano) – chamber music
14. 2nd prize: Sophie Gringolts (8 y.o., violin) – chamber music
15. 2nd prize: Tania Filimonova (8 y.o., violin) – chamber music
16. 2nd prize: Raffael Rosa (15 y.o., piano) – solo piano
17. 3rd prize: Viktoria Jung (14 y.o., piano) – solo piano
18. 3rd prize: Arkady Brunner (13 y.o., piano) – solo piano
19. 3rd prize: Yilin Yu (13 y.o., piano) – solo piano
20. 3rd prize: Sanna Lecchini (8 y.o., piano) – solo piano
21. 3rd prize: Kira Lecchini (8 y.o., piano) – solo piano
Eleven ZBSM winners of the first prizes in the Entrada competed in the competition Finale with the best young musicians from all over the country two months later. All of them won prizes in the Finale as well: 6 first prizes (including 3 with distinction), 4 second prizes and one third prize:
1. 1st prize with distinction: Kimia Corke (10 y.o., violin) – chamber music
2. 1st prize with distinction: Nikita Koller (11 y.o., violin) – chamber music
3. 1st prize with distinction: Eva Solodovska (10 y.o., piano) – chamber music
4. 1st prize: Nina Gringolts (13 y.o., violin) – chamber music
5. 1st prize: Alexandra Taub (12 y.o., violin) – chamber music
6. 1st prize: Benjamin Branson (12 y.o., cello) – chamber music
7. 2nd prize: Sophie Branson (14 y.o., violin) – solo baroque violin
8. 2nd prize: Katya Gringolts (11 y.o., piano) – chamber music
9. 2nd prize: Vlada Sabella (10 y.o., violin) – chamber music
10. 2nd prize: Mila Kovári (11 y.o., piano) – solo piano
11. 3rd prize: Emil Spiess (12 y.o., violin) – solo baroque violin
The members of the Trio EastWest – Kimia Corke, Nikita Koller and Eva Solodovska – who won first prizes with distinction both at the Entrada and in the Finale, were invited to perform for the gala concert at the close of the competition on May 9th. They happily accepted the invitation and performed Polka by Schnittke.
Due to Covid-19, the Swiss Youth Music Competition was cancelled in 2020, meaning the last time the competition took place was 2019. That year 15 students of the Zakhar Bron School of Music won 9 first prizes (including 5 with distinction), 5 second prizes and one third prize.
In other words, the number of prizes won by our students in the competition has more than doubled in just two years, increasing from 15 in 2019 to 32 in 2021.
We think this is a very impressive result – especially considering the fact that there are only 65 students at the ZBSM in Zurich! And we believe that this has been achieved thanks to the highly professional job of our dedicated teachers combined with many hours of practice by our committed students.
Our congratulations to the prize-winners, their teachers and their parents! Great result, absolutely fantastic!!!