Applications are now open for the 2026 Tibor Junior International Violin Competition, which is set to take place from July 1 to 4, 2026 in San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy. The competition is open to violinists aged between 14 and 17.

The winner of the 2022 edition was Natsuho Murata, who was 15 years old when she was awarded. She is also the former first prize winner of the 2018 Il Piccolo Violino Magico International Competition when she was 10 years old.

This year, the Tibor Junior International Violin Competition will be held under the auspices of the Piccolo Violino Magico Competition and its head, Domenico Mason.

Natsuho began playing the violin at age 3 and made her solo debut with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra when she was 11. She is currently a student of Koichiro Harada, Zakhar Bron and Mayuko Kamio as a student at the Tokyo College of Music High School. She plays on a 1765 Gennaro Gagliano violin, on loan from the Nippon Violin Society.

You can hear her performing Bach's Double Violin Concerto with Tedi Papavrami and Waxman's Carmen Fantasie at the 2022 Tibor Junior International Violin Competition below.