The new Senior Laureate of the 10th International Violin Festival at Folkestone ran away with all the Senior Section major prizes Gabriela Demeterova, of the Czech Republick, won the first, second and third stage prizes and the Unaccompanied Bach Prize totalling 25.200. Demeterova, 21, overshadowed Ukrainian Alina Komissarova, who came second, and Stefan Milenkovic, from the former Yugoslavia, third.
In the Junior Section, the quick learning skills of Japan’s Daishin Kashimoto, 14, earned him the Junior Laureate and Second Stage prizes. He scooped the prizes after a hellish 13 days of frantic practice following the discovery that he had prepared the wrong concerto. He was followed by Russia’s Igor Malinovsky and Wei Wei Le of the People’s Republic of China, who came second and third respectively.