Winner Announced at 2021 Getting to Carnegie Competition

18–year–old violinist VC Young Artist María Dueñas has been awarded 1st prize at the 2021 Getting to Carnegie Competition

A student of Boris Kuschnir at the Vienna and Graz University of Music, María is a former first and grand prix winner at the Leonid Kogan, Georg Philipp Telemann, and Yankelevitch International Violin Competitions. She was also awarded first prize at the 2017 Zhuhai International Mozart Competition for Young Musicians, in China.

“After a year in which concert halls around the world closed their doors, I’m happy to say that the 'Getting to Carnegie Competition' was not only held as planned, but thrived by reaching its largest audience yet, thanks to the Violin Channel and a generous grant from the Alphadyne Foundation," said competition founder Julian Gargiulo, "The Pianist with the Hair."

"I am excited and look forward to performing my new violin sonata with the incredible young talent that is Maria Dueñas. At merely 18 years of age, she is the new rockstar of the violin and I can’t wait to play my whole sonata with her."

For this year’s competition, held entirely online, each finalist performed the world premiere of one movement of Julian Gargiulo’s new sonata for violin and piano.

In addition to receiving US $5,000, María will be the featured violinist at the 2022 Getting to Carnegie Competition at Carnegie Hall, and at the 17th Water Island Music Festival in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

This year’s other three finalists, Sory Park, Angela Chan, and Sophia Stoyanovich will each receive US $1,000.

First place was decided by a vote. Fifty percent of the vote came from the audience watching the live stream on The Violin Channel, and the other fifty percent came from a jury of professional musicians.

This year’s jury included: violinist Dmitri Berlinsky, plus previous Getting to Carnegie competition winners, vocalists Emily Henebrook and Brianna Robinson, cellists Rachel Siu and Stephanie Hong, and violinists Haeji Kim and VC Young Artist Nathan Meltzer.

Over 5,000 online votes were cast. 

This year's competition was generously supported by the Alphadyne Foundation.