Three violinists and three cellists have progressed to the final round, which will be held on Wednesday 23 July
The finalists of Harbin’s Schoenfeld International String Competition have been announced, following the competition’s semi-final round on Sunday 20 July.
The violinists performed either Mozart’s Violin Concerto no.4 in D major or Mozart’s Violin Concerto no.5 in A major, as well as a contemporary work, while the cellists performed either the Haydn C major Cello Concerto or Haydn D major Cello Concerto, alongside a contemporary work.
From seven musicians in each division, three contestants have been selected to take part in the final round.
The violin finalists are:
Bo Cui (China, 24)
Audrey Park (US, 22)
Meng Zou (China, 22)
The cello finalists are:
Matthias Balzat (New Zealand, 26)
Bogdan Efremov (Russia, 19)
Jeri Lee (Korea, 15)
The finalists from both divisions will perform a complete concerto from a prescribed list with the Harbin Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jindong Cai on Wednesday 23 July.
Meng Zou and Audrey Park will perform the Sibelius Violin Concerto and Bo Cui Brahms Violin Concerto. Matthias Balzat will perform Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, Bogdan Efremov Dvořák’ Cello Concerto, and Jeri Lee Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme.
Both the violin and cello divisions include a gold medal and $30,000 first prize, followed by the silver medal and $15,000 and the bronze medal and $8,000. Special awards include the audience award, the Frankie Hui special award and for outstanding performance of a new piece.
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 competition was founded by violinist Alice Schoenfeld and her sister, cellist Eleonore Schoenfeld, who co-founded the Schoenfeld International Music Society. The two were among the first internationally recognised musicians to visit communist China after formal diplomatic relations between the US and China began 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.
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