The Viotti International Music Competition (Italian: Concorso Internazionale di Musica Viotti), named after the Italian composer and violinist Gian (Giovanni) Battista Viotti (1755–1824), is held every year in Vercelli, Piedmont. It was founded by violinist Joseph Robbone in 1950 and has been, since 1957, a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions.
The competition is dedicated primarily to piano and opera singing, with rotating categories of voice (even numbered years), piano (odd numbered years), but also features sections for violin, chamber music, oboe, guitar, dance and composition, among others.
In the fifty years since its inception, thousands of competitors have taken part, many of whom have reached international fame. They include Luigi Alva, Claudio Abbado, Cathal Breslin, Luciano Pavarotti, Mirella Freni, Nicola Martinucci, Salvatore Accardo, Joaquín Achúcarro, Daniel Barenboim, Renato Bruson, Piero Cappuccilli, Raina Kabaivanska, Sumi Jo, Yeol Eum Son, Jeanne You, Violetta Egorova.
The judges have included Franco Corelli, Carlo Maria Giulini, Klaus Hellwig, Yehudi Menuhin, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Birgit Nilsson, Carl Orff, Aureliano Pertile, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Renata Scotto, Joan Sutherland, and Richard Aaker Trythall, Raina Kabaivanska.
Piano Winners
1950s
1950
1951
1952
- 1: René Pouget
- 2: Walter Blankenheim
- 3: Alexander Jenner; Andrzej Wasowski
1953
- 1: Joaquín Achúcarro; Luciano Bertolini; Gabriel Tacchino
- 2: Monte Hill Davis; Eléonore Kraemer
- 3: Adriana Brugnolini ; Jack Edwin Guerry
1954
- 1: Yoko Kono
- 2: Cécile Ousset; Chiaralberta Pastorelli; Kurt Bauer; Richard Cass
- 3: Claudine Durussel; Marion Zarzeczna; Bruno Fabius; Alberto Neuman (Argentina); Emanuele Perrotta (Italy)
- Grand Prix: Daniel Barenboim
1955
- 1: Cécile Ousset
- 2: Alberto Colombo
- 3: Danièle Dechenne–Decroos; Günter Ludwig; Natascia Calza; Pierre Delgrange; Alain Barnheim
- Finalist: Claudio Abbado
1956
1957
1958
1959
- 1: —
- 2: John Perry; Irène Pamboukjian; Annick Savornin-Daru
- 3: Gino Brandi; Vittorio Del Col; Pierre-Yves Le Roux; Luisa De Robertis; Raffaella D’Esposito
1960s
1960
1961
1962
- 1: —
- 2 (Grand Prix): Lidia Rocchetti; Christian Bernard
- 2: Minka Royer-Routcheva; Giuliano Silveri; Alessandro Specchi
- 3: —
1963
- 1: Franco Angeleri; Gernot Kahl
- 2: Paule-Françoise Bonnet; Gi-In Wang – Dag Achatz; – Ivan Darel-Kaiserman; Marco Vavolo
- 3: —
1964
1965
- 1: Joaquín Ángel Soriano Villanueva
- 2: Yoshiya Iwamoto; Robert Spillman (US); Raquel Boldorini; Leonora Milá i Romeu; Suzanne Husson
- 3: Fausto Di Cesare; Vladimir Krpan
1966
1967
- 1: Jacques Rouvier
- 2: Ettore Peretti; Catherine Collard
- 3: Jivko Paunov; Marie-Cécile Milan; Supitra Riensuvarn
- Finalist: Jean-Louis Steuerman
1968
- 1: Alexandra Ablewicz; Anna Maria Cigoli
- 2: Micaela Mingardo
- 3: Danielle De Gasquet; César Brunin Zaror; Franz-Friedrich Eichberger
1969
1970s
1970
1971
1972
- 1: Dirk Joeres
- 2: Olivier Gardon; Bianca Bodalia
- 3: Claus-Christian Schuster; Ramzi Yassa – Taeko Kojima
1973
1974
1975
- 1: Arnulf Von Arnim; Edson Lopes Elias
- 2: Boris Bloch; Richard Fields; Elena Mouzalas
- 3: Jacques Gauthier; Tomoko Mizuno ; Diana K. Weekes
1976
1977
1978
- 1: Pavel Gililov; Angela Hewitt
- 2: Giovanni Umberto Battel; Yovcho Margaritov Krushev (Bulgaria); Jean-Yves Thibaudet
- 3:
1979
1980s
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990s
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000s
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2007
2009
2010s
2011
- 1: Alexey Lebedev
- 2: Illiya Zuyko
- 3: Artem Yasynskyy
2013
2015
2017
2019
References
- Deutsches Musikinformationszentrum (17 November 2016). "Gian Battista Viotti International Music Competition". MIZ (in German). Retrieved 2 October 2020.
- "Viotti Competition". Music Pages. Retrieved 2 October 2020.