The Alois Kottmann Award is an international prize for "classical, cantando violin playing". It honours outstanding international violinists. The competition takes place annually in May and/or June during International Days of Music Hesse Main-Taunus Hofheim

International Days of Music Hesse Main-Taunus Hofheim

The International Days of Music Hesse Main-Taunus Hofheim are an annual cultural event of several days‘ duration in Hofheim am Taunus, Hesse, Germany. It takes place in May or June and is attended by artists from all over the world...

 in Hofheim am Taunus

Hofheim, Hesse

Hofheim is a Frankfurt suburb and the administrative center of the Main-Taunus district, in the south of the state of Hesse. The population of the town at the end of 2006 was 41,737; its geographical position is...

, Hesse

Hesse

Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

, Germany. After the competition, the award will be presented on a separate date through the Lord Mayor of the city of Frankfurt

Frankfurt

Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

 am Main in the Limpurg Hall of the historic city hall Römer

Romer

A Reference Card or "Romer" is a device for increasing the accuracy when reading a grid reference from a map. Made from transparent plastic, paper or other materials, they are also found on most baseplate compasses. Essentially, it is a specially marked-out ruler which matches the scale of the map...

.

History

The Alois Kottmann Award was founded and donated in 2001. It is named after its founder and benefactor, the German violinist and university professor Alois Kottmann

Alois Kottmann

Alois Kottmann is a German violinist, music pedagogue, university professor and patron.- Background :Alois Kottmann was raised as one of three children of a silversmith. His mother was very much interested in music so she made every possible effort for a musical education of her children...

.

During the first years of the competition, only one participant received an award and special prizes were offered to honour further special talents or performances. This changed in 2005 when two participants received awards. In the years 2006 and 2007, special appreciation awards were introduced along the main award and the special prizes. In addition, the unparalleled "Bach Award of the city of Hofheim am Taunus" was presented in 2007 to Sabrina-Vivian Höpcker (Germany). In 2010, first and second places of the Alois Kottmann Award were created, along with the special prizes. In addition, the title "Laudatory Appreciation" was introduced.

Aim

The award is meant to aid and encourage the Frankfurt-based tradition of Carl Flesch

Carl Flesch

Carl Flesch was a violinist and teacher.Carl Flesch was born in Moson in Hungary in 1873. He began playing the violin at seven years of age. At 10, he was taken to Vienna, and began to study with Jakob Grün. At 17, he left for Paris, and joined the Paris Conservatoire...

 which has its most prominent exponents in Alma Moodie

Alma Moodie

Alma Templeton Moodie was an Australian violinist who established an excellent reputation in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. She was regarded as the foremost female violinist during the inter-war years, and she premiered violin concertos by Kurt Atterberg, Hans Pfitzner and Ernst Krenek...

 and Max Rostal

Max Rostal

Max Rostal was a violinist and a viola player. He was Austrian-born, but later took British citizenship.-Biography:Max Rostal was born in Cieszyn and studied with Carl Flesch. He won the Mendelssohn Scholarship in 1925...

. The jury will place special emphasis on classical discipline, on an artistic and stilistic understanding of the performed works as well as a singing (cantando) style which signifies and characterises the personality of the artist.

"Outstanding violinists can be recognized by their tone, but with the young ones this is often not possible anymore. What is heard from them is performed speciously but without personality. The violin was created because man is able to sing also with it."
Professor h. c. Alois Kottmann (translated from German)

Prizes

The award consists of 3,000 euro, a silver medal and a certificate. In addition, one or more special prizes will be awarded if applicable.

Eligibility requirements

The competition is open for violinists internationally. There is no age restriction. During the competition musical pieces are required to be performed which are published one year in advance and will change annually. Memorised play is not required nor specially rated. Closing date for applications is in April.

Jury

The members of the judging panel are Agnes Giebel

Agnes Giebel

Agnes Giebel is a German soprano. She was born in Heerlen, in the Netherlands, where she lived the first years of her life. She studied at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen and made her first public appearance as a singer in 1947. Her career lasted until the 1990s during which she established a...

 (singer), university professor Richard Rudolf Klein

Richard Rudolf Klein

Richard Rudolf Klein is a German composer, musician and teacher. His compositional output is diverse, including nursery rhymes and music for children, choral music and hymns, incidental music, orchestral music as well as chamber music.- Life :Klein attended the humanistic Gymnasium in Landau,...

 (composer), university professor Alois Kottmann (violin, benefactor and patron of the award), Boris Kottmann (violin), and Margit Neubauer (singer).

Recipients

Year	Award recipient	Special prize	Appreciation
2001	Bojidara Kouzmanova Bojidara Kouzmanova -Education:She studied at the Ljubomir Pipkov Music High School in Sofia and at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna. She participated in violin courses with Prof... , Bulgaria	Patricia Gross, Germany Vivien Wald, Germany
2002	Ara Lee, South-Korea	Giuseppe Carotenuto, Italy Almut Frenzel, Germany Andrea E.-I. Kim, Germany Vivien Wald, Germany
2003	Maria Azova, Uzbekistan	Myung-Eun Lee, South Korea Johanna Schlüter, Germany David Schultheiss, Germany
2004	Julia-Evelyn Zis, Poland	Almut Frenzel, Germany	Eun-Ae Kim, South Korea
2005	Aya Muraki, USA Yoriko Muto, Japan	Marie-Luise Dingler, Germany Dina Zemtsova, Russia	Anna Knopp, Austria Viviane Waschbüsch, Germany
2006	Yeo Young Yoon, South Korea Myung Eun Lee, South Korea	Zsuzsanna Czentnár, Hungary	Bahadir Arkiliç, Turkey
2007	Chloé Kiffer, France Istvan Horvath, Germany	Rebecca Martin, Germany	Célia Schann, France
2008	Yan Yan Chang, China	Byol Kang, Germany Martina Trumpp, Germany
2009	Célia Schann, France Marcus Tanneberger Marcus Tanneberger - Career :Marcus Tanneberger started learning the violin on behalf of his parents at the early age of three and a half, and gave his first public performance at the age of five... , Germany Harim Chun, South Korea	Ludwig Dürichen, Germany
2010	1. Jayoung Jeon, South Korea 2. Oleksii Semenenko, Ukraine	Liv Migdal, Germany/Sweden Katja Schott, Ukraine	C. Christopher, Taiwan
2011	Senta Johanna Kraemer, Germany	Saschka Haberl, Germany Bo Xiang, China

External links

• Pictures of Awardees, Founder/Benefactor etc. (German)