Finally, after a year of waiting you can tune in to hear our exceptional young competitors and guest artists showcase their skills in our very first virtual Competition between 14th and 23rd May.

Events will be available to view via the Menuhin Competition Richmond 2021 website and YouTube channel. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive a notification whenever we share new videos!

Competition Rounds

The First Rounds of the Competition will be released in advance of the main Competition, with the Junior section scheduled for 26-27th April at 10 am EDT and the Senior section at 10 am EDT on 28th-29th April.

Semi Finals for both sections will be released 15th-16th May.

Join us for the culmination of the Competition with the Junior and Senior Finals, released on 21st and 22nd May and hosted by Fred Childs, public radio personality and long-time host of “Performance Today.”

We would like to take a moment to thank our 43 competitors who have worked so hard to send their performances to us via video file from around the world. You can find a full list of our Richmond 2021 competitors here.

Event highlights

How hard is it to make it through the Menuhin Competition? Find out when our friends TwoSet Violin try to impress our jury causing mayhem and havoc in their usual hilarious style.

Our partners, the Richmond Symphony, will host a live, in-person concert to kick off the Competition from the host city, with renowned conductor Jahja Ling and Richmond 2021 juror, Angelo Xiang Yu. The concert will include the world premiere of Mason Bates’ Bound Away, a work which was commissioned for the Competition this year.

Throughout the Competition, guest artists will join us for a variety of exciting online events, bringing together a wonderful mix of music and violin styles from artists including jazz violinist Regina Carter (17th May); joint winners of Geneva 2018 Junior 1st Prize Chloe Chua and Christian Li (18th May); husband-and-wife fiddling duo Mark and Maggie O’Connor; (19th May); and one of the most exciting and dynamic chamber orchestras based in the United States, the Sphinx Virtuosi (20th May). Richmond 2021 juror and founder of the Sphinx Organization, Aaron Dworkin, will lead a panel discussion on the role and importance of diversity in the arts on 21st May.

The Competition will come to an exciting conclusion with the Gala Presentation on 23rd May, which will showcase performances by the Richmond Symphony, the Junior and Senior winners, juror Angelo Xiang Yu and other guest artists from the 10-day virtual festival.

We can’t wait to welcome you to the first-ever virtual Menuhin Competition. Make sure you check out our programme page to see the full list of events.