Prize winners in the category violin

Violin final - the winners have been announced

(cs) After three extensive selection tests at the highest level, this year's Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition for Violin reached its climax with the final on Thursday, May 15, 2025. The three finalists, Josephine Chung (26), Corina Deng (17) and Teofil Milenkovic (25), appeared before the international jury one last time and demonstrated their exceptional skills with Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major. The participants were accompanied by the Vogtland Philharmonic Orchestra Greiz/Reichenbach under the direction of Simon Edelmann.

After a jury deliberation, the result was announced at the end of the evening by the president Prof. Julius Berger:

1st prize winner: Corina Deng (Canada, currently USA)
2nd prize winner: Josephine Chung (Australia, currently Germany)
3rd prize winner: Teofil Milenkovic (Serbia/Italy)

The top three winners will receive numerous prizes and special prizes at the prizewinners' concert on Saturday, 17 May 2025 and will also be able to perform selected works from the competition program once again. The first prize winner, Corina Deng, will once again perform the work from the final round, Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major. The runner-up and Reger prizewinner, Josephine Chung, will perform Max Reger's Prelude and Fugue from the first round of the competition. Teofil Milenkovic, the third prize winner, will present Paganini's Caprice op. 1 No. 24 from his third-round program. Tickets for the prizewinners' concert are available at the box office for 18 or 15 euros.

The prizewinners in the category violin

Corina Deng, born 2007

Corina Deng, 17 years old, started playing the violin at the age of 3 and is currently studying with Ida Kavafian at the Curtis Institute of Music. At the 4th International Tibor Varga Junior Violin Competition 2024, she won the First Prize as well as the Audience Prize, the Calma Management Prize and the Best Interpretation Prize for the compulsory piece Onde, punti, voci by Ana Sokolovie. In addition, Corina is the national winner of the 2021 MTNA competition in the USA and won first prizes at the Canadian National Music Competition in both 2014 and 2017. She made her orchestral debut at the age of 8 and her first recital at the age of 10. She has performed with the South Czech Philharmonic, the Orchestre de I' Agora Montreal, the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, the Richmond Orchestra and the Vancouver Academy Orchestra. Corina has been invited to many important events, such as the mini violin concerts of the Concours musical international de Montréal 2023, the Cleveland ChamberFest, From the Top, Stars of Tomorrow Concerts at the Heifetz Institute of Music, etc. She also received scholarships for the Perlman Music Program (2023-2025), the Morningside Music Bridge (2022) and the Heifetz Institute of Music (2019-2021). Corina enjoys playing duos with her older sister Athena Deng, other forms of chamber music, and working in the Curtis Institute of Music Orchestra.

Josephine Chung, born 1998

Josephine is a violinist from Sydney, Australia, who has previously lived and studied in the USA, Australia and Europe. She is currently studying for a Master's degree at the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin with Suyeon Kang. She previously studied at the Curtis Institute of Music (BM'21), Philadelphia, with Pamela Frank and Arnold Steinhardt and graduated from the Australian National Academy of Music with Robin Wilson in 2022.

Josephine made her solo debut at the age of 11 and went on to perform as a soloist with the Melbourne, Tasmanian and Willoughby Symphony Orchestras and the ANAM Orchestra. In 2016 she won the prestigious Dorcas McClean Traveling Scholarship, Australia's most prestigious violin competition. Josephine competed in the 2014 Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition and is a winner of the Kendall National Violin Competition, the Australian Concerto and Vocal Competition and the National Youth Concerto Competition.

She has appeared on radio on FineMusic, 3MBS and ABC Classic FM.

Josephine is a dedicated and passionate chamber musician. From 2021-2024 she was first violinist of the Affinity Quartet, with whom she studied at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid with Günter Pichler. In Josephine's first two years with the quartet, they were awarded major prizes at four international competitions, including the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition and the International Mozart Competition, and won the Grand Prize, First Prize for String Quartet and the Audience Prize at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition 2023. Josephine toured with the Affinity Quartet and performed internationally, including at the Wigmore Hall, Melbourne Recital Centre and ANAM Quartet House.

Josephine has studied chamber music with members of the Alban Berg, Artemis, Casals, Kuss, Meta4, Australian, Dover, Guarneri, Brentano, Orion and Goldner Quartets and with Gary Hoffman. She has performed alongside renowned artists such as Brett Dean, Lawrence Power, members of the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Australian String Quartet and the Vermeer Quartet.

Josephine was selected as one of the Australian Chamber Orchestra's Emerging Artists in 2022 and has been a guest violinist with the orchestra since 2023. She participated in the YellowBarn Young Artists Program in the USA and the Keshet Eilon Summer Mastercourse in Israel and received masterclasses from Augustin Hadelich, Vadim Gluzman, Pinchas Zukerman, Ani Schnarch and Olivier Charlier. In 2015, Josephine was selected as the youngest member of the Australian International Symphony Orchestra Institute under international conductors Johannes Fritszch and David Danzmayr as concertmaster for both seasons.

Josephine plays a violin by Giuseppe and Antonio Gagliano, Naples, 1794.

Teofil Milenkovic, born 2000

Born on January 11, 2000 in Italy to a Serbian father and an Italian mother, Teofil began his musical journey at a young age, guided by his parents who are both highly esteemed violinists.

His extraordinary career began at the age of just 4 when he won the International Competition for Young Talents in S. Bartolomeo, an early sign of a career destined to shine.

Critics have not hesitated to praise his unique talent. Thus Luca Segalla wrote in the magazine *Archi*: “A violinist with a determined character and natural stage presence, he tackles Sibelius' Violin Concerto op. 47 with the flair of a great concert artist, characterized by broad phrasing, a dense and full sound and fiery virtuosity”.

In his still young career, Teofil has already thrilled audiences at renowned theaters and festivals around the world. At the age of just nine, he performed as a soloist with orchestra at the Teatro Olimpico in Rome and the Teatro Greco in Lecce, among others, and played concertos by Mendelssohn and Mozart. He has taken part in international festivals in France, Germany, Slovenia, Serbia and many other countries and has worked with renowned orchestras such as I Solisti Veneti, I Virtuosi Italiani and the Lecce Symphony Orchestra as well as the Haydn Orchestra.

Teofil Milenkovic has received numerous prestigious awards on his musical journey. In 2014, for example, he received the Unicredit scholarship “Maura Giorgetti” from the Filarmonica della Scala; in 2015, he was selected by the Stradivari Foundation in Cremona to give concerts with historically valuable violins. His successes have continued at prestigious competitions such as the Lipizer Competition, Jeunesse Musicales, Queen Elisabeth, Henri Marteau and Valsesia Musica.

After obtaining his diploma at the Monteverdi Conservatory in Bolzano under the guidance of Maestro Marco Bronzi and later perfecting his skills with Maestro Roberto Trainini, Teofil is currently a student in the class of Maestro Stefan Milenkovich in Novi Sad, Serbia.