Starting on 10 August this year, the 36 young violinists will be competing for the biggest prize pot available in any competition 

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The Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition yesterday announced the 36 candidates chosen by the pre-selection jury to take part in the live rounds beginning in August.

In total, 174 young violinists applied to enter the competition for a chance to win its $100,000 top prize, $50,000 second prize or $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.

It is the biennial competition’s second editition – the first was won by Japanese violinist Mayu Kishima in 2016.

The candidates are:

  • Yurina Arai, Japan
  • Marie Bégin, Canada
  • Jiayi Chen, China
  • Yige Chen, China
  • Ellinor D’Melon, Jamaica
  • Hiu Sing Fan, Hong Kong, China
  • Mone Hattori, Japan
  • Shucong He, China
  • Valerie Kim, United States
  • Alina Kobialka, United States
  • Miyeon Lee, South Korea
  • William Lee, Taiwan, China
  • Quanshuai Li, China
  • Po-Yu Lin, Taiwan, China
  • Ruifeng Lin, China
  • Zhen Liu, China
  • Petr Lundstrem, Russia
  • Ashley Park, United States
  • Diana Pasko, Russia
  • Eva Rabchevska, Ukraine
  • Arsenis Selalmazidis, Greece
  • Dmitry Smirnov, Russia
  • Ji Won Song, South Korea
  • Olga Šroubková, Czech
  • Sophia Su, United States
  • Anna Tanaka, Japan
  • Yun Tang, China
  • Chang Yuan Ting, Canada
  • Diana Tishchenko, Ukraine
  • Chieri Tomii, Japan
  • Jacqueline Tso, United States
  • Jiazhi Wang, China
  • Runyin Zhang, China
  • Alex Zhou, United States
  • Jin Zhou, China
  • Nancy Zhou, United States

The violinists will enter the quarter-final rounds starting on 10 August and progress through semi-final and finals over the course of three weeks.

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