Violinist Lilia Pocitari wins Bartók World Competition 2023
The Moldovan Master's student Lilia Pocitari has won the 1st prize of the Bartók World Competition 2023, worth 22,000 euros. She also received the prize for the best interpretation of contemporary works in the competition as well as invitations to concerts with the Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok, Concerto Budapest and the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and at the Hungarian State Opera in the 2024/25 season.
Lilia Pocitari studies at the Eisler in the Master's programme with Prof. Ulf Wallin. She completed her Bachelor's studies at the Buchmann-Mehta College of Music in Tel Aviv in the class of Ilya Konovalov, the concertmaster of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. She is a prize-winner of several international competitions and in recent years has performed with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Julian Rachlin at the Vienna Konzerthaus, in Finland with the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra and in Tel Aviv at the Charles Bronfman Lecture Hall under the baton of Zubin Mehta.
Born in Chisinau in 1997, the violinist won prizes at international competitions in Romania, Lithuania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan, including 1st prize at the "Jeunesses Musicales" in Bucharest, the Grand Prix and the Special Prize of the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth (EMCY) at the Balys Dvarionas International Competition for Young Pianists and Violinists in Vilnius and the Gold Medal at the International Delphic Games in Astana.
The Bartók World Competition 2023 took place in September at the Ferenc Liszt Academy in Budapest and invited internationally renowned musicians* and teachers as jury members, including Daniel Phillips (jury chair), Stephan Picard, Maxim Rysanov, Roland Daugareil, Yayoi Toda, Kristóf Baráti, Gyula Fekete, Péter Halász and András Keller. The competition takes place every six years, with the two prize-winning works of the previous composition competition being performed in the instrumental competition of the following year.