The violinists, aged 14 to 18, are competing for a grand prize of $20,000

Johan dalene

The Thomas & Evon Cooper International Competition has named the ten violinists who will compete in its Concerto Round on 18 July at Oberlin College, Ohio. Following this, six candidates will progress to the Recital Round on 19 July, leading to a Concerto Final on 21 July in which just three remaining violinists will compete for a top prize of $20,000, performing with the Cleveland Orchestra under conductor Jahja Ling.

The Recitals Round (7pm EDT, 11pm GMT) and Concerto Final (7.30pm EDT) will be broadcast live on WCLV 104.9 FM and streamed on the competition’s homepage.

The 10 remaining candidates are:

Joseph Hsia, 16 (USA)
Kiarra Saito-Beckman, 18 (USA) 
Lingyu Dong, 16 (CHINA)
Adrian Steele, 17 (USA) 
Maya Anjali Buchanan, 17 (USA)
Qing Yu Chen, 17 (USA) 
Johan Dalene, 16 (SWEDEN, pictured)  
Kejun Guo, 18 (CHINA)
Christina Jihee Nam, 14 (USA)  
Zachary Brandon, 18 (USA)

This year’s jury includes Gregory Fulkerson, Sibbi Bernhardsson, David Bowlin, Chenxing Huang, Haik Kazazyan, Marilyn McDonald, Mark Messenger, Jan Mark Sloman, Naoko Tanaka and Milan Vitek.

The Cooper International Competition, presented jointly by the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Cleveland Orchestra, began life as the Oberlin International Festival in 1985 and after a brief hiatus returned in 2010 sponsored by Thomas and Evon Cooper. The contest is held annually, open to candidates aged between 13 and 18, and alternating between piano and violin disciplines. 

Previous winners of the competition include American violinist Sirena Huang, who took first prize at the Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition, as well as winning the New York Concert Artists worldwide debut audition earlier this year.

Read: Cooper International Violin Competition 2017 names 23 semi-finalists