Turkish violin team wins four awards in key Budapest competition

BUDAPEST

Turkey’s national violin team, which is composed of eight violinists, won four awards at the second Ilona Feher International Violin Competition on July 28.

In the juniors’ category, Duru Önhon, İdil Olgar, and Naz İrem Türkmen shared the first prize with their successful performance in the finals, said Turkish pianist Fazıl Say on Instagram. In another category, Elfida Su Turan won the bronze medal, Say added.

Turkish jurist Cihat Aşkın said this was the most significant achievement the Turkish Violin School has ever clinched.

Other members of the jury, which was comprised of internationally renowned musicians, said the Turkish team members’ performance was the most spectacular team representation Turkey has ever performed in a music competition.

Ümit Öktem, Turkey’s First Counsellor in Hungary, celebrated each Turkish team member, voicing Turkey’s pride with their distinguished success.

The competition was held in the name of Ilona Feher, one of the leading names of the Hungarian violin school who lived between 1901 and 1988, at the Georg Solti Hall of the Liszt Academy. The jury was headed by Shlomo Mintz, one of Feher’s students, and prominent musicians from Hungary, Turkey, the United States, and Germany. The other jury members were Éva Ácsné Szily, Victor Danchenko, László Dénes, Herbert Greenberg, Ute Hasenauer, Miklós Szenthelyi and Mimi Zweig, Say noted.

In addition to Hungary and Turkey, violists from the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Finland, Germany, the U.S., Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Macedonia, Montenegro, South Korea, Canada and Australia also competed in the key event.