Categories

Contestants may choose to apply to any one category, so long as they are not older than the age limit.

Jury
Kelly Hall-Tompkins (USA – Manhattan School of Music)
Felice Cusano (Italy)
Natsumi Tamai (Japan - Tokio University of the Art)

Application Fees

Applications must be received in full. Any bank fees must be paid by the sender,
or the application will be deemed not valid.

Prizes

• First Prizes Categories A, B and C: each winner will receive 30% of the total scholarship money for his or her category.
  
• Second Prizes Categories A, B, and C: each winner will receive 25% of the total scholarship money for his or her category.
  
• Third Prizes Categories A, B and C: each winner will receive 20% of the total scholarship money for his or her category.
  
• Fourth Prizes Categories A, B and C: each winner will receive 15% of the total scholarship money for his or her category.
  
• Fifth Prizes Categories A, B and C: each winner will receive 10% of the total scholarship money for his or her category.
  
• First Prize Winners of the Categories B and C will be invited to perform a live recital in Napoli. The performance will take place at a prestigious venue, to be chosen among the most important historical and artistic sites of Napoli (i.e. Castel Nuovo, Sala Vasari, National Archaeological Museum). The recital will be advertised to guarantee maximum exposure. If invitation is accepted, performers agree to receive no fee.
  
• All prize winners of all categories will be awarded the chance to perform a live-streamed concert from a location of their choice. Duration will depend on their age and repertoire, but in any case total duration will not exceed 50 minutes. Prize winners may decide to record a performance instead of streaming it live. Either the live or the recorded performance will be published on the “Napolinova” Facebook page, and on the Facebook, WeChat, YouTube, or Youku platforms of the jury members.
  
• At the conclusion of the competition, contestants who do not win prizes can choose whether to make their videos public, or keep them unlisted. The winners must immediately go on YouTube or YouKu and make sure their videos’ settings are switched to “public”. Those videos will be posted on the “Napolinova” association’s Facebook Page.

Jury

KELLY HALL-TOMPKINS

Winner of a Naumburg International Violin Competition Honorarium Prize and featured in the Smithsonian Museum for African-American History, Ms. Hall-Tompkins is a violin soloist entrepreneur who has been acclaimed by the New York Times as "the versatile violinist who makes the music come alive,” for her "tonal mastery" (BBC Music Magazine) and as New York Times “New Yorker of the Year.” She has appeared as co-soloist in Carnegie Hall with Glenn Dicterow and conductor Leonard Slatkin, in London at Queen Elizabeth Hall, at Lincoln Center and with the Symphonies of Baltimore, Dallas, Jacksonville, Oakland, recitals in Paris, New York, Toronto, Washington, Chicago, and festivals of Tanglewood, Ravinia, Santa Fe, France, Germany and Italy. She was “Fiddler”/Violin Soloist of the Grammy/Tony-nominated Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof. Inspired by her experience, she commissioned and developed the first ever Fiddler solo disc of all new arrangements, “The Fiddler Expanding Tradition,” which is featured in the new documentary “Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles” on the 55-year history of the musical. As founder of Music Kitchen-Food for the Soul, Kelly Hall-Tompkins is a pioneer of social justice in classical music, bringing top artists in over 100 concerts coast to coast in homeless shelters from New York to Los Angeles and in internationally in Paris, France. Music Kitchen will present the World Premiere of the Forgotten Voices Song Cycle in Association with and coming soon to Carnegie Hall. Ms. Hall-Tompkins is a newly appointed faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music.

FELICE CUSANO

Felice Cusano ha studiato al Conservatorio S. Pietro a Maiella di Napoli sotto la guida del M° Giovanni Leone e si è poi perfezionato a Monaco con i M° Otto Buechner e Franz Beyer e all’Accademia Chigiana di Siena con Franco Gulli. Nel 1972 è risultato vincitore assoluto della Rassegna Nazionale ‘Auditorium-Giovani interpreti’ organizzata dalla RAI. Per anni ha fatto parte di prestigiosi complessi quali il Sestetto Chigiano, i Virtuosi di Roma e i Solisti Italiani con i quali si è esibito come solista nei teatri più importanti del mondo. Ha suonato con le orchestre italiane più prestigiose (Teatro alla Scala di Milano-RAI di Milano, Roma e Torino, Felice di Venezia, Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano, ecc.) riscuotendo ovunque consensi di critica e pubblico. Eminenti musicisti del nostro tempo quali William Walton, Bruno Bettinelli (che peraltro gli ha dedicato il suo concerto per violino e orchestra) e Carlo Galante gli hanno espresso grande considerazione. Svolge intensa attività di musica da camera. La sua incisione dell’Ottetto e del Trio di Mendelssohn è stata recensita dalla rivista americana ‘Fanfare’ come una delle migliori. Ha effettuato registrazioni per Erato, RCA e la Dynamic. Ha inciso il concerto per violino e orchestra di Galante e quello di Bettinelli. Tiene master e corsi ed è invitato in giuria ai più importanti concorsi, è stato per oltre vent’anni titolare di cattedra principale presso il Conservatorio ‘G. Verdi’ di Milano.Tra i suoi allievi spalle delle più importanti orchestre Italiane e non solo e premiati nei più importanti concorsi.

NATSUMI TAMAI

Born in Kyoto, Natsumi Tamai won the first prize in the violin category at the Prague Spring International Music Competition while she was a student at the Toho Gakuen School of Music in Tokyo. She studied under Yuji Togi, Hideki Oguni, Ryodaku Kubota, Azusa Tatsuta, and Takayoshi Wanami. After graduating, she studied under Herman Krebbers at Conservatorium van Amsterdam and Ana Chumachenco at Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. During this time, she won many awards, including prizes at the Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition, the Jean Sibelius International Violin Competition and at the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition. She has also received The New Artist Prize from Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs Performing Arts Festival, the Kyoto Prefecture Culture Prize, the Shiga Prefecture Culture Prize, and many more. Tamai has performed with many Japanese and overseas orchestras such as the Russia National Orchestra, the Belgium Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, the NHK Symphony Orchestra, the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra. She has also held many recitals in Japan and Europe and is a highly regarded chamber music violinist. She serves as concertmaster of Kioi Hall Chamber Orchestra Tokyo, belongs to the Tokyo Kreis Ensemble, is a solo violinist of the Ensemble of Tokyo, and coordinates the Biwako Music Harvest, a chamber music academy for children. Currently, she is an a professor of Tokyo University of the Arts. Her instrument is Stardivarius “Ex-Park” (1717) owned by Tokyo University of the Arts.