[Herald Interview] Dmytro Udovychenko, winner of Queen Elisabeth Competition, on uplifting Ukraine with violin

Dmytro Udovychenko, a Ukrainian violinist, is experiencing his busiest season after winning the 2024 Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition in June.

With the latest triumph adding to a long list of prizes won at international competitions, including first prize at the Montreal International Violin Competition in 2023 and third prize at the International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition in 2022, Udovychenko is finally done with competitions and set to launch his journey as a musician in earnest.

Recalling the moment less than four months ago, he said he was happy to be able to offer a brief moment of happiness for the people in Ukraine who have been suffering in the ongoing war with Russia.

“Even for a short moment, I was happy to give some brief moments of happiness,” Udovychenko told reporters during a press conference in Seoul on Monday.

He had just arrived from Taiwan, where he held a recital tour.

He shared his thoughts about refusing to shake hands with Vadim Repin, a Russian violinist who was one of the judges for the Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition.

“I absolutely admire him as a violinist and have nothing against him personally. But he’s ruling a festival supported by the Russian government. It just was not the right thing for me to shake his hands,” he explained. In April 2014, Repin was appointed founder and artistic director of the annual Trans-Siberian Arts Festival, which takes place in Novosibirsk, Russia.

“Being a Russian citizen is not a crucial factor because people are not choosing where to be born. For example, my professor is Russian and other members of the jury in many competitions are Russian, and also many students at Kronberg Academy are Russian,” he said. “The crucial thing is being part of events that Russia is supporting, a country that is killing Ukraine people."

His family is also experiencing the pain of war.

His mother, a viola player in the Kharkiv Opera Orchestra, had to leave for neighboring countries such as Lithuania and Slovakia after the outbreak of the war, only recently returning to Ukraine, where his father had remained alone during that time.

Becoming a musician almost seemed destined. Not only his mother, but also his father and younger brother are all violists. He initially wanted to pursue the viola as well, and learning the violin at the age of 5 was just one step toward that goal.

“Then, I forgot to switch to viola at some point,” he said.

After graduating from the Kharkiv Music School in Ukraine, he moved to Germany in 2016 to study under Boris Garlitsky, a Russian professor, at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. Since 2022, he has been studying at the Kronberg Academy in Germany with Christian Tetzlaff.

"It is an honor to be one of the few students to receive guidance from Tetzlaff, one of the great violinists of our time. I'm thoroughly enjoying learning every aspect of his approach to music, performance techniques and more,” he said.

Udovychenko, along with his peer Joshua Brown, the runner-up in the Queen Elisabeth Competition, kicked off the Queen Elisabeth Competition Winners' Concert on Tuesday in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province. Performances followed in Gyeongju on Wednesday, Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, on Friday, and Seogwipo, Jeju Island, on Sunday. On Thursday he is to perform Sibelius' Violin Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by artistic director David Reiland, at the Seoul Arts Center.

In November, he will return to Korea to participate in the second DMZ International Music Festival at the Goyang Aram Nuri Arts Complex, an event dedicated to the wish for peace. A fitting performer for the DMZ Music Festival, Udovychenko will perform with Korean pianist Youn Hong-Chu on Nov. 13, then on Nov. 16 he will collaborate with the DMZ Festival Orchestra in performing Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in the closing concert.