14 musicians in both the violin and cello divisions have progressed to take part in the competition’s second round on 17 and 18 July, where competitors will perform sonata repertoire, a virtuosic piece, plus a Chinese commission
The 6th Alice and Eleonore Schoenfeld International String Competition is currently taking place in Harbin, China.
Following the opening gala on Sunday 13 July, candidates in the violin and cello divisions took to the stage to perform in the first rounds from 14 to 16 July.
35 musicians in each division between the ages of 16 and 32 performed for a chance to progress to the second round. The violin candidates performed a 25-minute recital, comprising a Paganini caprice, select movements from the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by Bach, plus a virtuosic concert piece either solo or with piano accompaniment.
The cello candidates also performed a 25-minute recital, comprising either a Popper etude or Piatti caprice, a Prelude and one other movement from Bach Cello Suites no.3-6, plus a virtuosic concert piece either solo or with piano accompaniment.
The second rounds for both violin and cello divisions will take place on 17 and 18 July, where candidates will perform sonata repertoire, a virtuosic piece, plus a new Chinese composition.
The violinists who have progressed to the second round are:
Yige Chen (China, 25)
Bo Cui (China, 24)
Sara Dragan (Poland, 23)
Zijin Han (China, 22)
Yiyang Hou (China, 20)
Lorenz Karls (Sweden, 24)
Hyeonji Kim (Korea, 25)
Ivan Kuznetsov (Russia, 22)
Hao Li (China, 26)
Audrey Park (US, 22)
Inga Rodina (Russia, 25)
Oleksii Tyshchenko (Ukraine, 18)
Zhixin Zhang (China, 25)
Meng Zou (China, 22)
The cellists who have progressed to the second round are:
Matthias Balzat (New Zealand, 26)
Lanjing Bian (China, 20)
Nathan Cox (US, 24)
Bogdan Efremov (Russia, 19)
Jorge Cerdó Giménez (Spain, 23)
João Pedro Gonçalves (Portugal, 24)
Johannes Gray (US, 28)
Nagyeom Jang (Korea, 24)
Pablo Laporev (Belgium, 27)
Jeri Lee (Korea, 15)
Runing Li (China, 16)
Andres Sanchez (US, 28)
Chengyue Wen (China, 17)
Jingyuan Zhang (China, 21)
The first round performances are available to watch on YouTube.
This year’s competition jury is chaired by Augustin Dumay and Arto Noras, and comprises Sergey Antonov, Anne Gastinel, Xenia Jankovic, Natalia Pavlutskaya, Alasdair Tait, James Cuddeford, Roman Kim, Jennifer Koh, Vineta Sareika, Tianwa Yang, Lina Yu, with Wei He and Li Sheng serving as the distinguished artist panel.
The prizes available in both the violin and cello divisions include the gold medal and $30,000, silver medal and $15,000 and the bronze medal and $8,000. Other prizes will also be awarded for the best performance of Beethoven, the audience award, the Frankie Hui special award and for outstanding performance of a new piece.
Additionally, nine chamber ensembles will participate in the chamber music division, which will be held on Monday 21 July.
The competition was founded by violinist Alice Schoenfeld and her sister, cellist Eleonore Schoenfeld. Both were long-standing teachers at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and founded the Schoenfeld International Music Society.
The sisters received the USC’s Ramo Music Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the American String Teachers Association named them joint winners of the Artist Teacher Award in 1996.
The sisters were among the first internationally recognised musicians to visit communist China, after formal diplomatic relations had been established between the governments of China and the US in the 1980s. More than a hundred Chinese string students studying abroad received scholarship support on their recommendation.
The competition is sponsored by Harbin Modern Culture & Tourism Investment Group Co., Ltd. 哈尔滨马迭尔文化旅游投资集团有限公司.
All photos courtesy Victor Yi ZHANG/Schoenfeld International String Competition.
Read: Prizes awarded at the 2025 Ysaÿe International Violin Competition
Read: Results announced for the 13th Vaclav Huml International Violin Competition
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