On the morning of March 19th, 2008, the news conference of "Palatino" Awards 2008--Second Music Composition (Violin Works) Competition was held in CCOM. This competition is co-sponsored by the Central Conservatory of Music, Tianjin Conservatory of Music, China Entertainment Technology Association, and Musicians Association in Beijing, with the assistance of AXL (Palatino) Musical Instruments Co. Ltd. Corp. Over 20 reporters who came from People's Music, Music Weekly, China Daily, Beijing Youth Daily, China Culture Daily, China Art News, Guangming Daily, China Radio International, and other news media, attended the news conference. The competition will adopt a bi-competition system that includes two competitions on composition and performance separately. The composers and violinists reached the final contest would be invited to attend the final concert and award ceremony held in Beijing.
The news conference was hosted by Professor Chen Danbu, the Secretary-General of the competition's Organizing Committee. Professor Wang Cizhao, the President of CCOM, gave a speech first. He stated that, the most important aim of this competition is to promote the new compositions for violin in order to enrich the present musical stage and social culture, and also leave some classical works with strong features of our times for the future generations, which is united in President Hu Jintao's report on 17th CPC National Congress, "…cultural workers should promote vigorous development and prosperity of culture more conscientiously and actively." In addition, Professor Wang emphasized that the constitution of committee members and judging procedure will strictly follow the principles of justice, fairness, and openness.
Then, the representatives from different aspects in Organizing Committee gave speeches focusing on propaganda, rules of competition, aims and justice. Professor Lin Yaoji, the Chair of Judging Committee, expressed his eagerly expectation of the competition's success, and stressed that the appearance of many high quality compositions for violin is the key of establishing the Chinese School of violin music. Professor Guo Wenjing, another representative of judging committee, hoped that the competition can attract more mature composers with rich experiences to join in which can improve the general level of the competing compositions. In the end, the organizers of the competition answered reporters' questions and gave further interpretations on the schedule and rules.
The representatives attending the news conference expressed their confidence in the competition. They believed that the competition would undoubtedly promote the development and prosperity of music composition for violin in China.
