Malov is back in Queenstown as the most recent winner of the biennial competition and said he was thoroughly enjoying playing for audiences and himself without the pressure of competing.
''It's not about being scared; it's about having fun and making music,'' Malov said.
He creates tunes with apparent ease on the borrowed violin he has been playing, as his own instrument was stolen recently from a locker in Berlin.
The overall winner of the competition receives a monetary prize, which this year is set at $40,000, their music is recorded and they perform a winner's concert tour.
Malov said after his win ''it was a big tour in New Zealand - 20 concerts'', including coming back to Queenstown, and playing ''some very, very beautiful'' music.
He then toured Japan, Germany and Russia.
As a passionate musician the win allowed him to have '' this luxurious opportunity to choose what I want to play'' and not have to make any ''unpleasant compromises'' in order to make money or be on stage, he said.
He stayed true to this sentiment when he said whatever the winner did with their prize money ''will be their business'' and he was not one to make a judgement on how they should spend it.
The competition was very well organised for the competitors and, aside from the monetary prize, ''there is this wonderful tour that you really learn a lot [from] about concert life'', he said.
''And I have to admit that it is sometimes fun'', he said with a cheeky smile.
Malov's charm and modesty seem as effortless as his musical talents and he described his performances as a returning winner as ''just pure fun'', although audiences have been amazed by them.
On a serious note he added ''this competition being held on the bottom of the world is so ... present in Europe''.
Upon returning to Europe after his 2011 win he found that people there were aware of who had won.
''This is a major event in a global sense.''
Malov turns 30 this week and, when asked what was next for him, he dreamily gestured towards the ceiling of the Queenstown Memorial Centre.
''The future is obviously already written in the stars. It's just about us being able to read it and trust it will come in the best way.
''At the moment I have just enough concerts,'' he said, adding he trusted there would be many more to come.
He also believed entering his 30s was the time to share his love for music in a teaching capacity and he would spend a semester as a relieving professor.
