Violinist Ulf Wallin on Producing the Optimal Application Videos for Competitions

Ulf Wallin will be adjudicating the 2nd edition of the Stuttgart International Violin Competition between February 19 - 26, 2024

Organized by the Guadagnini Foundation and the Stuttgart University of Music and Performing Arts, the Stuttgart International Violin Competition is open to international violinists 28 years of age and younger. Applications are open until July 31, 2023.

 

How does one create the best quality application videos? What should one think about to maximize one's chances of selection? We inquired with violinist Ulf Wallin to find out.

 

Here are a few tips for your recording:

1. The sound setting: Does it correspond to your own individual sound? It is better not to have too much reverberation as it makes your playing sound rather imprecise. Also, considering the number of recordings the commission has to listen to, it makes it difficult to judge.

2. The venue: clear lighting with good resolution. The camera angle should be such that one can easily and advantageously perceive the hands, face, and body.

3. Listening: It is better to make a small test recording shortly before the actual video so that you can hear what you still need to practice/improve. Or to determine whether it fails to reach the required standard and should not be submitted or too early to participate.

4. Physical endurance when performing is very important, so put your pieces in a sensible order. Avoid playing through the piece more than 2 or 3 times. Once you get tired or unfocused, both precision and interpretation will suffer as a result.

And lastly, don't forget: taking part in competitions is important for your career. But it is just part of the long road to becoming a good musician. Therefore, focus primarily on musical and artistic aspects of performance.

And; you also need a bit of luck with the constellation of the jury :))

-Ulf Wallin

 

Do you have a burning question for one of the Pros? Simply email: [email protected]

 

The Swedish violinist Ulf Wallin is a professor of violin at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin and visiting professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. He has served on juries for major international competitions including the ARD Competition in Munich, the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition in Hannover, and the Fritz Kreisler Violin Competition in Vienna.

In 2013 he was awarded the Robert-Schumann-Preis der Stadt Zwickau and in 2014 he was elected into the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.

Concert tours have taken him to Asia, Europe and the United States. He has worked with such eminent conductors as Jesús Lopéz Cobos, Manfred Honeck, Paavo Järvi, Andrew Manze, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Walter Weller, and Franz Welser-Möst. Always in great demand as a chamber player, Ulf Wallin has worked with artists like Bruno Canino, Barbara Hendricks, Heinz Holliger, Roland Pöntinen, and András Schiff.

He has made numerous radio, and television appearances and more than 50 CD recordings (BIS, cop, EMI and BMG).

A graduate of the Royal College of Music in Stockholm with Prof. Sven Karpe and of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Wallin plays a violin by the Venetian master Domenico Montagnana from 1746.