Two Japanese men have won the first and second places in the violin craftsmanship division at the 13th International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, organizers said Wednesday.
The violin crafted by Hiroshi Kikuta, 45, a Nagoya native, won first prize Tuesday, and the instrument made by Akira Takahashi, 36, a native of Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, received the second prize.
Kikuta and Takahashi learned violin craftsmanship in Cremona, Italy, where maestro Antonio Stradivari and other master craftsmen worked. The two now make violins in separate workshops there.
For Kikuta, this is the second time he has won first prize in an international competition, after winning the 11th Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Making Competition in the eastern Polish city of Poznan last year.