PREMIO PAGANINI Il Premio Paganini International Violin Competition "Premio Paganini" The International Violin Competition "Premio Paganini" was founded in 1954 with the goal of creating a violin competition with an international scope that would bring great prestige to the City of Genoa as well as provide a venue fordiscovering new, young talents. The Paganini Competition has quickly established itself as one of the most important violin competitions in the world. Since its foundation the "Premio Paganini" has been awarded to famous artists such as, Gyorgy Pauk, Gérard Poulet, Salvatore Accardo, Gidon Kremer, Ilya Grubert and, recently, Massimo Quarta, Giovanni Angeleri, Leonidas Kavakos, Ilya Gringolts and Sayaka Shoji, and it has acted as an effective springboard for their future artistic careers. In 2004, on the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Paganini Competition, the City of Genoa approved the resolution on the Competition becoming biennial (it had been an annual event until 2002) in order to fortify the event and give it even greater significance in the world of violin competition. The International Violin Competition "Premio Paganini" has been a founding member of the World Federation of International Music in Geneva since 1957.