THE VĚNCESLAV METELKA SOCIETY z. s.

Since 1997, the Venceslav Metelka Society has regularly organized a non-anonymous international violin making competition founded by Jaromir Joo, a leading violin maker from Náchod, a town in the North-East of Czech Rep. Until 2012 the competition was held in Náchod where also the founder of the Krkonose violin making school Venceslav Metelka (1807-1867) made his first experience as a violin maker. Although four very successful competitions have been held there, the event has moved to Prague, to take advantage of the cultural opportunities and excellent transport links of this beautiful city.

This non-anonymous competition was unconventional right from the beggining. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that, in addition to judging new instruments, violin makers must also carve a violin scroll on the spot in one day. From the 4th year (2012) competitors have been actively involved in scoring, along with members of the professional jury, and thereby assume responsibility for the results. The process of thorough examination of all competition instruments is considered to be extremely beneficial. The expert jury members thus additionally become mentors and guides for the participants. The general public are also included in the competition, since there is a prize awarded on the strength of public votes.

Participants must be present in person at the Competition. The reward, however, is the opportunity to meet with colleagues from around the world, to work together, to confront their work and to discuss the results after each round of the competition with the judges and with one another. All this is crucial for development of young violin makers and creates a unique atmosphere, complemented by concerts, lectures, exhibitions of rare instruments or informal evenings.

For organizational reasons, the number of participants is limited to 40. (first 40 applicants)!!!