A concerto is a piece of music written for a solo instrument (in the case, the violin) and an orchestra accompaniment. I've compiled a list of the top 10 violin concertos for beginners, listed in order of difficulty.

Kuchler Concertino in G Major

A concertino is a smaller and simpler concerto. This piece can be played entirely in first position. Kuchler also includes very specific bow markings to help with bow division. The rhythm is relatively simple overall; the hardest rhythm is dotted quarter followed by an eighth note. There are a few double stops, one is two open strings, one is a finger with an open string, one is two fingers. This piece is a great opportunity for students to practice full bowing, sound, and vibrato.

Rieding Concerto in B Minor

This piece is in a minor key, but has a friendly key signature. B minor is the relative minor of D Major, which means they share the same key signature-two sharps. This piece can be played all in first position. The 2nd movement is good introduction to 6/8 with not a terribly tricky rhythm. The 3rd movement some fast passagework but I personally think it's a lot of fun to play. There are no double stops except for one chord at the end, but it does require the use of three fingers.

Huber Concertino in G Major

This piece is on the shorter side, coming in at only 2 pages. It can be played all in first position, and I think it has a pretty popular melody. There are more fast passages (16th notes) and more double stops than the previous two pieces, but a lot of the double stops are with an open string. This piece has a brief 6/8 section with more complicated rhythms, plus flats in the key signature.

Portnoff Concertino in E Minor

This piece is pretty comparable with Huber, but longer (3 pages). It can be played all in first position, but there are a few passages that would be easier if played in third position. "Easier" in this case means less string crossings. There are some fast passages, a 6/8 section, and several double stops; many of which require the player to use a finger on the lower string which is harder than a finger on the upper string, because no part of the hand or finger can be touching the higher string or else it won't sound.

Seitz G Major Concerto

This piece can be played all in first position, but it is even longer (6 pages) than the previous concertos. There are several trills and double stops using both fingers. The 2nd movement is in 6/8, but the rhythm by far the hardest of the pieces mentioned so far. Additionally, there are several chords at the end.

Seitz D Major Concerto

This piece can be played all in first position, but it does include several fast passages and parts that are tricky for intonation. For example, there is a passage in the first movement that moves into E Major (4 sharps), which is a notoriously difficult key to play in tune. The reason I placed this after the Seitz G Major Concerto is because there is a really hard double stop section at end of third movement

Kuchler Concertino in D Major

This piece is really fun because it’s similar to Vivaldi A minor Concerto, which is an iconic beginner/intermediate piece. The 2nd movement is extremely short-only two lines! You do need to shift to third position in this piece, but only 2-3 times depending on how comfortable you are with fourth finger extensions. The piece is relatively short (only 3 pages) but it does go quite fast and there is lots of passage work (16th notes).

Vivaldi G Major Concerto

This piece is very fast! Additionally, the player must shift to third position several times in the piece. There are lots of fast string crossings, but the rhythm isn’t too challenging and it’s not too long.

Vivaldi A Minor Concerto

This is one of my personal favorites! There is a lot of shifting between 1st & 3rd positions, and there could potentially be some second position and even as high as 5th position in the 2nd movement, depending on your fingering. This piece also goes very fast, like most works by Vivaldi! Overall the rhythm isn't too challenging and there's nothing in 6/8 😉

Vivaldi G Minor Concerto

This piece is much longer, coming in at a whopping 10 pages! The player must shift between positions 1/5 fluidly and frequently. One particularly tricky thing is a blocked fifth trill in the first movement. The piece does go very fast, with multiple string crossings and higher notes than any of the previous pieces. Once you hit this piece, I wouldn't consider you a beginner violinist anymore!