US violinist Karisa Chiu has taken Gold at the 12th International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, following the final concerto performances at Hilbert Circle Theatre.
US violinist Karisa Chiu, 27, has won the Gold Medal at the 12th International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.
Elli Choi, 25, also from the US, received the Silver Medal, while Aozhe Zhang, 18, from China, took Bronze. Xunyue Zhang, 22, from China, placed fourth; Yesong Sophie Lee, 22, from the US, fifth; and Lina Nakano, 21, from Japan, sixth.
Each finalist appeared twice: first in the Classical Finals, performing a Mozart concerto with the conductorless East Coast Chamber Orchestra at Butler University’s Schrott Center for the Arts, then in a Romantic or post-Romantic concerto with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin at the historic Hilbert Circle Theatre in downtown Indianapolis. Chiu’s Classical Finals choice was Mozart’s Violin Concerto no.4 in D major K218.
Both stages were spread over two evenings. In the orchestral Finals, Lee and Nakano both performed Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto on 2 October, with Choi in Mendelssohn; Aozhe Zhang and Xunyue Zhang followed on 3 October in Sibelius and Brahms, before Chiu, the last of the six finalists to appear, closed the concert with Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. She was called back several times by an enthusiastic audience.
Around 45 minutes later, following the jury’s final deliberations, IVCI Executive Director Glen Kwok introduced Artistic Director and Jury President Jaime Laredo, who announced the final order of the six laureates.
All six receive cash prizes, ranging from $75,000 for Gold to $6,000 for sixth place. The top three also receive four years of career management and international concert engagements; Chiu’s Gold Medal package additionally includes a Carnegie Hall recital debut, a recording contract and four years of website development and maintenance.
The IVCI also offers four-year instrument loans to laureates from its collection, which includes three contemporary violins and the 1683 ‘Gingold’ Stradivari, formerly owned by Josef Gingold, under whose artistic leadership the competition was launched in 1982.
The finalists emerged from a field of 38 participants through four rounds, judged by a nine-member jury comprising Laredo, David Chan, Jinjoo Cho, Pamela Frank, Yuzuko Horigome, Bella Hristova, Dong-Suk Kang, Cho-Liang Lin and Svetlin Roussev; Chan, Cho, Hristova and Roussev are all former Indianapolis laureates.
Speaking to The Strad during the competition, Laredo said that, at this level, technical command was effectively a given. For him, the crucial question was: ‘What does this person have to say to me?’ Communication, artistry and musicianship, he said, were ultimately what mattered most.
Chiu first gained international attention by winning the 2021 Isangyun Violin Competition and has also received prizes at the Singapore, Menuhin and Leopold Mozart competitions. She previously competed in Indianapolis in 2022, when she was 23.
The final competitive round brought more than two weeks of performances to a close. The quadrennial competition, which began on 17 September, formally concludes on Sunday 4 October with the Gala Awards Ceremony at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, where all six laureates will be honoured and the special prizes announced.
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