Ten-year-old Australian Christian Li, one of the youngest participants selected to compete in this year’s Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition, has made it through to the junior finals. The youngest of six in the junior category, Li is up against Chloe Chua (11), Clara Shen (12), Hina Khuong-Huu (13), Guida Sant’Anna (12) and Ruibing Liu (13).

Christian Li 

He impressed in the semi-final with Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No 1, Piazzolla’s Histoire du Tango, Café 1930 and the Wieniawski Polonaise de Concert in D. Earlier in the first round, Li played the first two movements from Bach’s Sonata No 4, an improvisation on Wieniawski’s Etude-Caprice, and a selection of Dvořák’s Romantic Pieces.

The junior finals will be held on April 20 (to be live streamed on arte.tv), with the winners of the junior and senior categories to participate in a gala concert on April 22. This year’s international jury is comprised of nine internationally acclaimed musicians – Chairperson Pamela Frank, Vice Chair Joji Hattori, Itamar Golan, Ilya Gringolts, Henning Kraggerud, Lu Siqing, Josef Špaček, Maxim Vengerov and Soyoung Yoon.

The junior final of the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition...