Our Mission

The world doesn't need another violin competition. It needs a better one.

Too many competitions remain opaque in their judging, inaccessible in their costs, and indifferent to the musicians who don't make the final round. Aurelia was created to challenge that.

The Aurelia International Violin Competition is built on a simple conviction: that exceptional young violinists deserve a competition that is genuinely fair, rigorously transparent, and accessible regardless of geography or financial background. Every candidate who enters deserves to know that their playing — and nothing else — determines the outcome.

The name Aurelia comes from the Latin aureus, meaning golden. Not gold as spectacle, but gold as standard — the kind that is tested, proven, and enduring.

Aurelia was founded by Anne-Sophie Lemaire, professional violinist and former Executive Director of the Arthur Grumiaux International Violin Competition, with the artistic direction of George Tudorache. Together with a jury of internationally recognised soloists and professors, they are building something that the classical music world talks about but rarely delivers: a competition where the music comes first.

A new edition is in preparation.