Justin Saulnier Wins The 2024-2025 Golden Violin Award

After a tough competition, Ottawa violinist Justin Saulnier won the 2024-2025 Golden Violin Award. The nineteen-year-old will receive a cash prize of $30,000, as well as a concert performance as part of the Schulich@Good Shepherd series, to be held on February 26, 2025 at the Canadian Centre for Architecture. Second prize went to Joey Machin, who was awarded a $15,000 bursary. Jueun Lee rounded off this year’s edition of the Prix du violon d’or with a cash prize of $5,000.

In front of a packed Tanna Schulich Hall, Justin Saulnier delivered a technically skilful program imbued with flawless musicality. His program opened with Robert Schumann’s Three Romances. In each of the pieces, he deftly infused a different character, while in Ysaÿe’s Sonata for solo violin, he illustrated his technical mastery in a virtuoso display of precise violin lines.

But the central portion of his program dedicated to Alfred Schnittke’s Violin Sonata No. 1, a complex work featuring a multitude of playing techniques on both violin and piano, was the highlight of his performance. This work was a judicious choice, and to her advantage. Like his semi-final program, Saulnier was the only one to offer a work firmly rooted in 20th-century language – the other exception being Ellen Taafe Zwilich’s Fantasy for solo violin, performed by Jueun Lee. This change of character was more than welcome in an evening program that was otherwise steeped in the tonal universe of the 19th century. Compared to his colleagues, Saulnier presented the most varied and versatile program in terms of style and technique.

Jueun Lee took to the stage with Zwilich’s Fantaisie, Fauré’s Violin Sonata No. 1 and Ravel’s Tzigane. Lee presented her repertoire with the same vigor that characterized her semi-final appearance. She displayed virtuoso aplomb in many respects, particularly in the works by Zwilich and Ravel. At times, however, the intensity of her interpretations took precedence over her virtuosity. The play of timbre and texture, as well as the display of idiomatic traits present in Ravel’s piece, were well present, but uneven, particularly in the extremely velocity passages or in the changes of playing technique. The main instrumental work on his program, the Fauré sonata, which oscillated between melancholy and intensity, was executed with zeal, but lacked sparkle in the expression of this curious harmonic language.

Succeeding Jueun Lee, Joey Machin performed Prokofiev’s Five Melodies, Henryk Wieiniawsky’s Souvenir de Moscou and the third and fourth of César Franck’s Violin Sonata. He, too, maintained a certain continuity with his semi-final program, offering a refined, clear performance. Prokofiev’s melodies were presented with an even, stable sound, as was Franck’s sonata. His playing and mastery of dynamics were demonstrated in the Wieiniawsky piece, where he brought out the folk elements running through the work with great accuracy and style. A performance that was nevertheless marred by a few minor hiccups at the end in the high-pitched passages marked più vivo.

Andrée Azar, Carole Sirois, Joshua Peters, David Stewart and Jonathan Crow acted as judges for the semi-final and final rounds. Professor André Roy acted as non-voting chairman. The finalists were accompanied on piano by Gaspard Tanguay-Labrosse, Itamar Prag, Félix Marquis and Veola Sun respectively.

Photo Credit : Tam Lan Truong