International Max Rostal Competition 2006
At the Max Rostal Competition 2006 for Violin, two second prizes and two third prizes were awarded.
The second prizes, each worth 3,500 euros, were given to Marlene Ito and Roman Patocka.
Marlene Ito was born in 1981 in Yokohama, Japan. She studied violin with Prof. Götz Richter at the Sydney Conservatorium before transferring to the University of the Arts Berlin (UdK) to study with Prof. Nora Chastain. She has also gained artistic insights from courses with notable figures such as Zakhar Bron, Pinchas Zukerman, and Walter Levin. In 2003, she was the first prize winner of the Kendall National Violin Competition in Australia. Since 2006, she has been a member of the orchestral academy of the Berlin Philharmonic.
Roman Patocka was born in 1981 in Jihlava, Czech Republic, where he received his first violin lessons at the age of five. He studied initially at the conservatory in Prague with Dagmar Zárubová, later at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague with Prof. Ivan Straus. He also studied with Prof. Shmuel Ashkenasi at the Lübeck University of Music before receiving instruction from Prof. Stefan Picard at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin. In 2005, he won first prizes at the Leoš Janáček Competition and the Zoltán Kodály Competition, both in Semmering, Austria. In 2006, he was the second prize winner at the Flame Contest in Paris.
The two third prizes, each worth 2,500 euros, were awarded to Tomoko Kobayashi and Stefan Hempel.
Tomoko Kobayashi was born in 1981 in Tokyo. She began attending the Toho Gakuen Music School at the age of six. In 2004, she started her violin studies at the Lübeck University of Music. Currently, she is studying under a DAAD scholarship with Prof. Nora Chastain at the UdK Berlin. She has participated in master classes with prominent musicians such as Zakhar Bron, Toru Yasunaga, and Thomas Brandis. In 2003, she won the second prize at the first Tokyo Music Competition.
Stefan Hempel was born in 1980 in Leipzig and began violin lessons at the age of five. Since 1998, he has studied under Prof. Kolja Lessing at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" in Leipzig. In 1999, he began his violin studies with Prof. Michael Vogler at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin. Since 2003, he has been studying in the class of Prof. Stefan Picard.
Special price
The special prize, donated by Ms. Marion Rostal for the best interpretation of a contemporary work, was awarded to Marlene Ito. The prize is worth 500 Swiss francs.
Final concert of the finalists - Program
During the Max-Rostal Competition, the following pieces were performed by the finalists:
- Stefan Hempel: Béla Bartók - Violin Concerto No. 2 Sz 112
- Tomoko Kobayashi: Alban Berg - Violin Concerto "To the Memory of an Angel"
- Marlene Ito: Béla Bartók - Violin Concerto No. 2 Sz 112
- Roman Patocka: Antonín Dvořák - Violin Concerto in A minor Op. 53
The performances were by the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Georg Fritzsch. The official accompanists for the competition were Wolfgang Kühnl and Akiko Yamashita.