'City of violin' plays host to international competition

Qingdao International Violin Competition, organized by the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, ended with 21-year-old US violinist Elli Choi achieving the first place.

Chinese violinist Luo Chaowen, Japanese violinist Yukari Ohno and Chinese violinist He Chang won the second, third and the fourth place during the competition.

Chinese violinist Jiang Yiying was awarded the fifth prize and Bobirjon Eshpulatov, a violinist from Uzbekistan, was awarded the sixth prize.

Luo and He received special prizes for their interpretation of Chinese works.

The closing ceremony of the competition took place in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Sept 29 with a recital performed by the prize winners.

Chinese musicians and organizers of the competition, including Yu Feng, president of the Central Conservatory of Music, Meng Weidong, chairman of the judging panel of the competition, and international guests, including Peter Tornquist, dean at the National University of Singapore, and Niels Rosing-Schow, president in a temporary appointment of the Royal Danish Academy of Music, attended the closing ceremony.

According to the organizer, Qingdao is home to the first violin ever made in China in 1935, which enabled the city to become closely associated with the instrument by holding violin competitions and having international violinists performing there.