Nine string players between ages 15 and 23 will take part in this year’s competition in San Francisco from 7 June
The 40th edition of the Irving M. Klein International String Competition will take place on 7-8 June 2025 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music at Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall.
Nine semi-finalists have been selected to take part in this year’s competition, out of a total of 130 applicants. They are:
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Eiline Tai, cello, 17 (CA). Attends the Colburn School; studies with Clive Greensmith
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Elizabeth Poppy Song, violin, 15 (NJ). Attends Northern Valley Regional Demarest and Juilliard Pre-College; studies with Masao Kawasaki
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Joshua Kováč, cello, 17 (TN/Czech Republic). Homeschooled; studies with Daniel Veis
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Julia Schilz, violin, 22 (OH). Attends the Juilliard School; studies with Catherine Cho and Donald Weilerstein
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Julia-Xiaozhuo Wang, violin, 18 (China). Attends University of Music Performing Arts Vienna; studies with Johannes Meissl
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Miles Reed, cello, 22 (MA). Attends Oberlin Conservatory of Music; studies with Dmitry Kouzov
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Noam Ginsparg, cello, 21 (NY). Attends Bienen School of Music at Northwestern; studies with Hans Jensen
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Shengyu Meng, cello, 22 (China). Attends the Colburn School; studies with Clive Greensmith
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Yunji Jang, viola, 23 (South Korea). Attends Curtis Institute of Music; studies with Hsin-Yun Huang and Misha Amory
The grand prize includes $5,000 cash, funded by the MOCA Foundation, with performance contracts with the Peninsula and Santa Cruz Symphonies, Gualala Arts Chamber Series, among others, and is valued at $15,000.
The second prize comprises $3,500 cash and is valued at $5,500 with a performance with the San José Chamber Orchestra. Third prize comprises $2,500, with two fourth prizes of $1,500.Each semifinalist not awarded a named prize will receive $1,000. Awards of $500 each are given for best performance of the commissioned work by John Harbison, and of the solo Bach.
This year’s jury includes Glenn Dicterow, Karen Dreyfus, Barbar Day Turner, Hal Robinson, John Wineglass, Jory Fankuchen and Eileen Moon. Francesca dePasquale, winner of the 2010 Klein competition will serve as this year’s mentor and co-host with Klein artistic director Mitchell Sardou Klein.
The Klein Competition is open to musicians between ages 15 and 23. Violists Pearl de la Motte and Emad Zolfaghari won the competition in 2024 and 2023 respectively.
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