Eight violists will perform in the live semi-final rounds from 6 to 9 November
Eight violists have been selected to compete in the semi-final of the 79th Concours de Genève from the 36 candidates that took part in the online recital broadcast from 8 to 14 September.
The semi-finalists are:
Alessandra Yang, 21 years old, US
Ayaka Taniguchi, 23 years old, Japan
Brian Isaacs, 25 years old, US
Emad Zolfaghari, 21 years old, Canada
Eric Seohyun Moon, 28 years old, Korea
Kinga Wojdalska, 26 years old, Poland
Sarah Strohm, 20 years old, Switzerland
Wassili Wohlgemuth, 24 years old, Germany
The live portion of Concours de Genève will start with an opening concert at Salle Franz Liszt on 4 November, featuring performances from jury chair Tabea Zimmermann and pianist Thomas Hoppe, plus the Novo Quartet, which won the string quartet edition of Concours de Genève in 2023.
Semi-finalists will perform in the solo recital round on 6 and 7 November, followed by the chamber music round and presentation of the candidates’ artistic projects on 8 and 9 November. The selected finalists will perform a concerto on 12 November at Victoria Hall, along with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande .
The first prizewinner will receive CHF20,000 (£17,600), with second and third place receiving CHF12,000 (£10,500) and CHF8,000 (£7,050) respectively.
A host of special prizes, endowed with cash and concert engagements, are also up for grabs, including the Audience Prize, Students’ Prize, the Rose-Marie Huguenin Prize, Arts Society Prize, Concerts de Jussy Prize and Hindemith Prize.
This year’s competition jury is chaired by Zimmermann, and comprises Tomoko Akasaka, Ettore Causa, Pauline Sachse, Cynthia Phelps, Jean Sulem and German Tcakulov.
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