Twelve young violinists remain in contention for the biggest prize pot available in any competition, whittled down from the 36 invited to the live rounds

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Shanghai Isaac Stern Violin Competition 2018 semi-finalists and jury

The Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition has announced the 12 semi-finalists of its 2018 edition.

They are:

  • Diana Tishchenko, 28, Ukraine
  • Alex Zhou, 17, United States
  • Arsenis Selalmazidis, 28, Greece
  • Chang Yuan Ting, 18, Canada
  • Nancy Zhou, 25, United States
  • Olga Šroubková, 25, Czech Republic
  • Quanshuai Li, 27, China
  • Jia Yi Chen, 22, China
  • Sophia Su, 17, United States
  • Yige Chen, 18, China
  • Yurina Arai, 24, Japan
  • Yun Tang, 26, China

In total 36 candidates were invited to the live rounds, which started on 10 August, chosen by the pre-selection jury from 174 applicants.

The biennial competition, in its second edition, is offering a $100,000 top prize, $50,000 second prize and $25,000 third prize. A further $10,000 prize is offered for the best performance of a Chinese work – this year Qigang Chen’s La joie de la souffrance.

The first edition of the competition was won by Japanese violinist Mayu Kishima in 2016.

The semi-final round begins on Saturday 18 August with the string quartet session.

Watch: Mayu Kishima gives Shanghai Isaac Stern Violin Competition winning performance