In the first and second part of the international finals, 11 young talents were presented. After the jury’s scores were tallied, the winners of this year’s Virtuosos V4+ International season were announced. The competition, which has a total prize fund of €50,000, awards one winner per country each year, as well as a number of special prizes. András Keller, Plácido Domingo , Erika Miklósa, Dimash, and Gabriela Rachidi have been offered the chance to perform, and the winners will also receive a mini home recording studio courtesy of ADM Audio.
The concert, organised as a special prize by MTVA, will be performed by 6 young soloists with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kossuth Prize-winning conductor János Kovács, and will be held on 1 March in the Great Hall of the Liszt Academy.
And many of this year’s newcomers will be invited to the Virtuosos: Masters and Juniors gala concert with their mentors and star artists on 23 May at Müpa Budapest, tickets for which will be available soon.
Three special extra performances were presented by the judges of the show this season. In the first episode, Plácido Domingo and Dimash Qudaibergen sang Bizet’s Pearl Fishers duet, and in the second, HAUSER and Pablo Sainz Villegas performed a delightful piece, followed by three more judges and mentors, Erika Miklósa, Dimash and Plácido Domingo Jr, and Petar Čulić, as well as three contestants: the two young Ukrainians : Amelia (vocals) and Tyimofii (piano), and Ali (clarinet) from Hungary. accompanied by the Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra, performed Péter Pejtsik’s Heal the World, a reimagined cover of Michael Jackson’s hit song.
The V4 winners of the 2023 Virtuosos V4+ are:
Ali Lugosi (24, clarinet, Hungary)
Teo Gertler (15, violin, Slovakia)
Zarina Zaradna (12, harp, Poland)
Ondrej Toman (18, clarinet, Czech Republic)
No winner was announced among the young Ukrainians who were invited to the event and who had been forced to leave their homeland because of the war, as Ida Nowakowska, the presenter, interpreted the thoughts of the programme makers: ‘In war there can be no winners, only losers. That’s why here at Virtuosos we’re going to turn it around and both young Ukrainian contestants will win shared first prize!” So, the Ukrainian Tyimofii Zherbetsov (20, piano) and Amelia Anisovych (9, voice) were also Grand Prize winners.
In addition, the Best Music Teacher Award, offered by MVM, the main sponsor of the programme, was presented in the final broadcast by the company’s CEO, Károly Mátrai to Abouzahra Mariam’s teacher Dora Schwarzberg.
In his closing speech to the young contestants, chairman of the jury Plácido Domingo said that there is no other cultural and talent development project for young instrumentalists in the world like the Virtuosos.
“There were no losers here tonight, only winners. I am very happy and proud to be part of this and to follow your progress! It is a huge responsibility for us, the members of the jury,” added the Spanish world star, “but it is also a great responsibility for you, because you are the future of classical music.” – said Plácido Domingo.