[1] On the initiative of the musician Krzysztof Węgrzyn, and launched in 1991 by the Lower Saxony Foundation, the Hanover International Violin Competition was organized for the first time in the same year.
The head of the Foundation's programme department organized the competition, while Węgrzyn, concertmaster of the Lower Saxony State Orchestra, and also a professor at the HMTMH, took on the artistic direction.
There is an accompanying programme with extensive outreach under the categories: -with the aim that the performance of the competition participants should be carried as “far into the country as possible and enable access to classical music to a broad audience".
[4] Previously, in five rounds, 35 selected musicians demonstrate their virtuosity and expressiveness to the international jury of at least ten people, chaired by Krzysztof Wegrzyn, aiming to earn the title of „Preisträger des Internationalen Joseph Joachim Violinwettbewerbs, Hannover“ ("Prize Winner of the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition, Hanover").
The first prize winner is given the opportunity to produce a CD with the Naxos company, as well as “debut recitals and concerts with orchestras and ensembles of international standing”.