Australian violinist Beatrice Colombis has won the 2026 Michael Hill International Violin Competition. She takes home a $40,000 NZD cash prize and a recording deal with New Zealand’s Atoll Records, and will undertake a Winner’s Tour with Chamber Music New Zealand and Auckland Philharmonia.

Colombis was also awarded the Sheila Smith Prize, which awards her a three-year loan of a Domenico Montagnana violin. Earlier in the competition, she was also awarded Best Performance of the New Zealand-commissioned work, Salina Fisher’s Chasm.

Currently based in Berlin, the 22-year-old violinist is studying at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler with Suyeon Kang. Her honours include first prizes at the Kendall National Violin Competition, the Melbourne Bach Competition and Musica Viva Australia’s inaugural Strike a Chord competition.

New York-based violinist Tianyou Ma was awarded the $10,000 Second Prize, and German violinist Jakow Pavlenko was awarded the $5,000 Third Prize.

Beatrice Colombis performing at the 2026 Michael Hill International Violin Competition. Photo © Michael Hill International Violin Competition

This year’s international jury included Canadian violinist James Ehnes, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Concertmaster (and previous winner) Josef Špaček and Natsuko Yoshimoto, Concertmaster of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

“This year, we celebrated twenty-five years of artistic excellence and have been extremely humbled by the respect we received from the global community,” said the competition’s Executive Director Anne Rodda.

“For a relatively young organisation, from a small nation in the South Pacific, we are proud to stand alongside the world’s leading violin competitions and contribute to nurturing the next generation of great artists. We are delighted and incredibly grateful, this Competition and every Competition, to see… the wide-reaching value of the Hill family’s commitment to supporting the next generation of violinists.”

More about the Michael Hill International Violin Competition can be found here.