III. Jenő Hubay International Violin Competition

Venue:

Miskolc Music Palace  (HU-3530 Miskolc, Bartók Béla Square 1.)

Time:

13-16 November 2025

Total prize money: €5500

 

Jury:

President of the Jury: Kristóf Baráti [HUN]

 Kristóf Baráti Photo: Marco Borggreve

 

 

Kristóf Baráti began his violin studies in Venezuela, where he spent his early childhood. From the age of 12, he continued at the Special School for Exceptional Young Talents of the Liszt Academy of Music, and later under the guidance of Eduard Wulfson, a disciple of Menuhin and Milstein. During his international solo career, he has performed with numerous prestigious orchestras, such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the BBC Philharmonic, and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich. Since his debut in 2016, he has been a regular guest artist at the Verbier Festival. He is also head of the Strings Department and associate professor at the Liszt Academy in Budapest.

Jury members:

Žiga Brank [SVN]

Žiga Brank

 

Žiga Brank studied at the University of Music and Theatre in Rostock and the University of Music in Karlsruhe. Upon returning to Slovenia, he became the concertmaster of the Slovenian National Theatre’s orchestra in Maribor. Later, he performed with the Zagreb Soloists and taught as a guest professor at the Zagreb Academy of Music. Currently, he teaches in his hometown of Ljubljana as a violin professor at both the Ljubljana Conservatory of Music and Ballet and the Academy of Music, he was appointed head of the Department of Music Pedagogy at the latter in 2021.

Barnabás Kelemen [HUN]

Barnabás Kelemen Photo: László Emmer

Barnabás Kelemen graduated from the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest as a student of Eszter Perényi, and was immensely influenced by his later mentors: Isaac Stern, Ferenc Rados, Zoltán Kocsis, and György Kurtág. He has won numerous prestigious competitions as a soloist, as well as with the Kelemen Quartet, including Salzburg International Mozart Violin Competition (1999), International Violin Competition of Indianapolis (2002), Beijing International Music Competition (2011), and Premio Paolo Borciani (2014). He teaches at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, and – as a permanent guest professor – at Indiana University Bloomington.

Goran Končar [HRV]

Goran Končar

Goran Končar began his higher education at the Zagreb Academy of Music, then continued at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory in the class of Leonid Kogan, and later studied in Switzerland with Henryk Szeryng and Max Rostal. His path then led him to London, where he became a teaching assistant of Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. He led the renowned Zagreb Quartet for nearly thirty years; under his direction, the ensemble performed all of the string quartets by Shostakovich, Mozart, Janáček, and Prokofiev, as well as most of Haydn’s quartets, giving around 1,000 concerts in total. He has been teaching at the Zagreb Academy of Music since 1988.

František Novotný [CZE]

František Novotný

pursued his violin studies at the Brno Conservatory, then at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts, and under the guidance of Zakhar Bron and Victor Tretiakov. As a soloist, he has achieved top prizes at more than twenty competitions and has performed in prestigious concert halls such as the Großes Festspielhaus and Carnegie Hall. He has been teaching at his alma mater, the Janáček Academy, for over thirty years. Since 2009, he is a faculty member at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, where he co-founded the Bratislava International Violin Competition, which took place for the first time in 2022.

Vlad Răceu [ROU]

Vlad Răceu

graduated from the Gheorghe Dima National Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca, where he completed his DLA in 2016, and currently serves as a faculty member of the String Department at the same institution. He is a permanent soloist of the Dinu Lipatti State Philharmonic in his hometown of Satu Mare, and also performs with the Transilvania State Philharmonic, where he previously held the position of concertmaster. He was the winner of the 2007 “Remember Enescu” International Competition. As the founder of the Transylvanian Piano Trio, his aim is to promote the chamber music repertoire throughout the country.

Anke Schittenhelm [AUT]

Anke Schittenhelm Photo: Peter Adamik

Anke Schittenhelm completed her studies at the University of Music in Karlsruhe, the Conservatory of Bern, and later at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, where she was a student of Dorothy DeLay. She began her teaching career as a guest professor at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, after which she became a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, where she has been Head of the String Department since 2012. She is the founder of the chamber ensemble Capella Calliope and the artistic director of the International Chamber Music and Masterclass Days, held near Raumberg, Austria.

Maria Špengler-Marković [SRB]

Maria Špengler-Marković

earned her degrees with honours at the Faculty of Music of the University of Arts in Belgrade, and – as a scholarship recipient – at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. For nearly two decades, she served as concertmaster of the Belgrade-based St. George Strings, and has appeared as guest concertmaster with several ensembles, including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, and the Slovenian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Since 2004, she has been teaching at her alma mater, in Belgrade, where she received her doctorate in 2015.

 

Bartłomiej Tełewiak [POL]

Bartłomiej Tełewiak

Bartłomiej Tełewiak is the concertmaster of the Lower Silesian Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra based in the Polish city of Jelenia Góra. He graduated with honours from both the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice and the Bern Academy of Arts. As the founding president of the Young Arts Foundation, he is dedicated to the nationwide promotion of classical music and development of music education. He frequently teaches in international masterclasses organized by the foundation; additionally, he is the artistic director of the Young Arts Festival held annually in Krosno.

Bohdan Warchal Jr. [SVK]

Bohdan Warchal Jr.

Bohdan Warchal Jr. [SVK] studied violin at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava, where his father, Bohdan Warchal — founder and leader of the Slovak Chamber Orchestra — was his mentor. Throughout his career, he has been active both as a soloist and chamber musician. In 2003, he founded Warchal Strings, a company internationally renowned for its handcrafted violin, viola, and cello strings that combine traditional craftsmanship with modern innovation. Today, Warchal Strings ranks among the leading string manufacturers worldwide. Alongside his work as a luthier and entrepreneur, Warchal regularly gives masterclasses and supports the professional development of young violinists.

The Jenő Hubay Violin Competition was established in 2020 by Katalin Kokas and Barnabás Kelemen for the youngest generation of Central-Eastern European violinists under 22 years of age. The competition is open for applicants from Hungary’s neighbouring countries and the „Visegrád Four”. The competition, organized in four age groups has one round for age group 1, two rounds for the others. Highly prestigious violinists or violin teachers will serve on the jury of each country of our region (Hungary will be represented by Barnabás Kelemen, artistic director of the Festival Academy Budapest). Kristóf Baráti, head of the Strings Department and associate professor at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, will act as president of the jury. This contest is the gateway to the Ilona Fehér International Violin Competition, which takes place every two years.
The finalists of the Hubay Competition are automatically inivited to the International Ilona Fehér Violin Competition. 

 

Winners of 2023

Age Group 1

1.  Lin Xi

2. Liu Yiru, Nagy Gábor

3. Rigó Dorina, Zhang Jinger

Age Group 2

1. Berec Laura

2. Marianna Pazhik, Aleksandra Djokic

Age Group 3

1. Tao-Yuan Hsiao, Natalia Szymczyk

2. Bojana Serovic

Age Group 4

1. Jelena Horvat, Dunja Kalamir

3. Székely Anna Lilla

I. Jenő Hubay Violin Competition

 

2021