Carl Nielsen International Competition (Danish: Carl Nielsen Konkurrencen) is a competition for classical musicians (violin, clarinet, and flute) held in Odense, Denmark in memory of the composer Carl Nielsen.
Overview
The competition was established in 1980 under the patronage of Queen Margarethe of Denmark. It became a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions in 1981. Initially a violin competition, its first President was Henryk Szeryng. Later the competition added special editions for organists (since 1986), clarinetists (since 1997) and flutists (since 1998). At various times jury members included Max Rostal, Joseph Gingold, Norbert Brainin, Arve Tellefsen, Milan Vitek, Dorothy DeLay, Tibor Varga, Jean-Jacques Kantorow.
Since 2012, the organ competition is no longer part of the Carl Nielsen Competition, but is instead held as a separate competition. But the violin, clarinet and flute competitions have, after nearly four decades, established themselves as some of the most demanding and rewarding in the world, each offering winners the chance to launch a significant international career. From 2019, the Carl Nielsen International Competitions for violin, clarinet and flute will be held concurrently for the first time. Representing the 2019 competition as Artistic Advisors are three of the world's leading musicians in their fields – Nikolaj Znaider, Emmanuel Pahud and Martin Fröst.
Prize-winners
Violin
1980
- 1st Prize: 
 Kathleen Winkler - 2nd Prize: 
 Per Enoksson - 3rd Prize: 
 Hozumi Murata - 4th Prize: 
 Adriana Rosin - 5th Prize: 
 Grazyna Skowron - 6th Prize: 
 Marius Nichiteanu 
1984
- 1st Prize: 
 Osamu Yaguchi - 2nd Prize: 
 Lenuta Ciulei-Atanasiu - 3rd Prize: 
 Johannes Søe Hansen - 4th Prize: 
 Jaroslaw Zolnierczyk - 5th Prize: 
 Jacob Friis - 6th Prize: 
 Anne Yuuko Akahoshi 
1988
- 1st Prize: 
 Alexei Kochvanets - 2nd Prize: 
 Heike Janicke - 3rd Prize: 
 Joji Hattori - 4th Prize: 
 Nicole Monahan - 5th Prize: 
 Sigrun Edvaldsdottir - 6th Prize: 
 Beata Warykiewicz 
1992
- 1st Prize: 
 Nikolaj Znaider - 2nd Prize: 
 Jennifer Koh - 3rd Prize: 
 Pekka Kuusisto - 4th Prize: 
 Ilja Sekler - 5th Prize: Not awarded
 - 6th Prize: 
 Vladislav Adelkhanov 
1996
- 1st Prize: 
 Adele Anthony - 2nd Prize (shared): 
 Malin Broman and 
 Jaakko Kuusisto - 3rd Prize: Not awarded
 - 4th Prize: Not awarded
 - 5th Prize: 
 Esther Noh - 6th Prize: 
 Tamás András 
1999
- 1st Prize: 
 Leor Maltinski - 2nd Prize: 
 Saeka Matsuyama - 3rd Prize: 
 Mariko Inaba 
2000
- 1st Prize: 
 Masaaki Tanokura - 2nd Prize: 
 Dmytro Tkachenko - 3rd Prize: 
 Mikkel Futtrup - 4th Prize: 
 Mariusz Patyra 
2004
- 1st Prize: 
 Hyuk Joo Kwun - 2nd Prize: 
 Erin Keefe - 3rd Prize: 
 Ui-Youn Hong - 4th Prize: 
 Judy Kang 
2008
- 1st Prize: 
 Hrachya Avanesyan - 2nd Prize: 
 Yusuke Hayashi - 3rd Prize: 
 Josef Spacek - 4th Prize: 
 Eugen Tichindeleanu 
2012
- 1st Prize: 
 Olga Volkova - 2nd Prize: 
 Niklas Walentin Jensen - 3rd Prize: 
 Eva Thorarinsdottir - 4th Prize: 
 Ui-Youn Hong 
2016
- 1st Prize (shared): 
 Liya Petrova and 
 Ji Yoon Lee - 2nd Prize: Not awarded
 - 3rd Prize: 
 Luke Hsu - 4th Prize (shared): 
 Soo-Hyun Park, 
 Ji Won Song, and 
 Karen Kido 
2019
- 1st Prize: 
 Johan Dalene - 2nd Prize: 
 Marie-Astrid Hulot - 3rd Prize: 
 Anna Agafua Egholm 
2022
- 1st Prize (shared): 
 Hans Christian Aavik and 
 Bohdan Luts - 2nd Prize: Not awarded
 - 3rd Prize: 
 Eun Che Kim 
Flute
1998
- 1. Prize: 
 Karl-Heinz Schütz - 2. Prize: 
 Kazunori Seo - 3. Prize: 
 Henrik Wiese - 4. Prize: 
 Natalie Schwaabe 
2002
- 1. Prize: 
 Pirmin Grehl - 2. Prize: 
 Denis Bouriakov - 3. Prize: 
 Fruzsina Varga - 4. Prize: 
 
 Sarah Rumer 
2006
- 1. Prize: 
 Alexandra Grot - 2. Prize: 
 Lukasz Dlugosz - 3. Prize: ex aequo: 
 Marion Ralincourt and 
 Grigory Mordashov 
2014
- 1. Prize: 
 Sébastian Jacot - 2. Prize: 
 Yukie Ota - 3. Prize: 
 Yaeram Park 
2019
- 1. Prize: 
 Joséphine Olech - 2. Prize: 
 Marianna Julia Żołnacz - 3. Prize: 
 Rafael Adobas Bayog 
2022
- 1. 
 Alberto Navarra - 2. 
 Seoyeon Kim - 3. 
 Alberto Acuna Almela 
Clarinet
1997
- 1. Prize: 
 Spyros Mourikis - 2. Prize: 
 Igor Begelman - 3. Prize: 
 Carlo Failli - 4. Prize: 
 Anne Piirainen 
2001
- 1. Prize: 
 Alexander Fiterstein - 2. Prize: 
 Nicolas Baldeyrou - 3. Prize: 
 Jens Thoben - 4. Prize: 
 Sebastien Batut 
2005
- 1. Prize: 
 Olivier Patey - 2. Prize: 
 Olivier Vivarès - 3. Prize: 
 Björn Nyman - 4. Prize: 
 Vincent Penot 
2009
- 1. Prize: 
 Olli Leppäniemi - 2. Prize: 
 Christelle Pochet - 3. Prize: 
 Daniel Ottensamer - 4. Prize: 
 Balazs Rumy 
2013
- 1. Prize: 
 Sergey Eletskiy - 2. Prize: 
 Mathias Kjøller - 3. Prize: 
 Inn-Hyuck Cho - 4. Prize: 
 Pierre Genisson 
2019
- 1. Prize: 
 Blaz Sparovec - 2. Prize: 
 Aron Chiesa - 3. Prize: 
 Víctor Díaz Guerra 
2022
- 1. 
 Oleg Shebeta-Dragan - 2. 
 Ann Lepage - 3. 
 Panagiotis Giannakas 
Organ
1986
- 1. Prize: not awarded
 - 2. Prize: 
 Jesper Madsen - 3. Prize: 
 Kevin Bowyer 
1988
- 1. Prize: 
 Andreas Liebig - 2. Prize: 
 Kayo Ohara - 3. Prize: 
 Anne Nietosvaara 
1990
- 1. Prize: 
 Kevin Bowyer - 2. Prize: 
 Bine Katrine Bryndorf - 3. Prize: 
 Yuzuru Hiranaka 
1992
- 1. Prize: 
 Christopher Wrench - 2. Prize: 
 Stephen Farr - 3. Prize: 
 Christian Schmitt - 4. Prize: 
 Pascale Melis - 5. Prize: 
 Paul Theis 
1994
- 1. Prize: not awarded
 - 2. Prize: 
 Rie Hiroe - 3. Prize - Ex Aequo: 
 Walter Savant-Levet and 
 Marina Zagorski - 4. Prize: 
 Stefan Kordes - 5. Prize: 
 Frédéric Desenclos 
1996
- 1. Prize: 
 Hanne Kuhlmann - 2. Prize: 
 Veronique le Guen - 3. Prize: 
 Torsten Laux - 4. Prize: 
 Jin Kim - 5. Prize: 
 Heinrich Christensen 
1998
- 1. Prize: 
 Johannes Unger - 2. Prize: 
 Teilhard Scott - 3. Prize: 
 Torsten Laux - 4. Prize: 
 Samuel Kummer - 5. Prize: 
 Làszló Deàk 
2000
- 1. Prize: not awarded
 - 2. Prize - Ex Aequo: 
 Sarah Baldock and 
 Charles Harrison - 3. Prize: 
 Christina Blomkvist - 4. Prize: 
 Burkhard Just - 5. Prize: 
 Hedvig Dobias 
2002
- 1. Prize: not awarded
 - 2. Prize: 
 Burkhard Just - 3. Prize: 
 Helene von Rechenberg - 4. Prize: 
 Katrin Meriloo 
2004
- 1. Prize: 
 William Whitehead - 2. Prize: 
 Clive Driskill-Smith - 3. Prize - Ex Aequo: 
 So-Hyun Park and 
 Johannes Hämmerle 
2007
- 1. Prize: 
 Henry Fairs - 2. Prize: 
 Gijs Boelen - 3. Prize: 
 Daniel Bruun - 4. Prize: 
 Ruth Draper 
2011
- 1. Prize: 
 Philip Schmidt-Madsen - 2. Prize: 
 Timothy Wakerell - 3. Prize: 
 Simon Menges