30 violinists will compete for a prize pool totalling $110,000 at this year’s competition, taking place from 25 January to 7 February
The 2026 Singapore International Violin Competition (SIVC) is set to take place from 25 January to 7 February. The competition is open to violinists under the age of 30.
A prize pool of over US$110,000 will be awarded, along with concert engagements, plus three-year fine violin loans from the Rin Collection for the top six winners.
The first prize winner will take home $50,000, with second and third place winning $25,000 and $15,000 respectively. Fourth, fifth and sixth prize winners will receive $6,000, $5,000 and $4,000 respectively.
Special prizes will also be awarded for the best performance of a violin and piano work ($5,000), chamber music prize ($3,000), plus best performer of the commissioned work, Bach and Ysaÿe, each worth $1,000.
The first round, taking place from 25-27 January at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory Concert Hall, will see contestants perform one solo recital of Bach and Ysaÿe, as well as a recital of sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Kreisler, and one piece of the candidate’s choice.
In the semi-finals, taking place from 1-2 February, the contestants will perform a 60-minute recital comprising works from a prescribed list of sonatas, plus the competition’s commissioned piece, Soliloquy, by David Loke.
Six finalists will be selected to perform in the final round at the Victoria Concert Hall on 4 and 5 February, where they will perform a Haydn String Quartet, op.77, no. 1 or 2, with the Shanghai Quartet.
From there, three grand finalists will perform a concerto at the Esplanade Concert hall on 7 February with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
This year’s competition jury is chaired by artistic director Qian Zhou, and comprises Shmuel Ashkenasi, Augustin Dumay, Koichiro Harada, Ida Kavafian, Barnabás Kelemen, Itzhak Rashkovsky, Paul Roczek, Pavel Vernikov and Lina Yu.
30 violinists have been selected to take part in the competition’s live rounds, following a pre-selection process. They are:
Alexandra Cooreman (Belgium)
Aoi Saito (Japan)
Audrey Park (US)
Cao Jiachen (China)
SongHa Choi (South Korea)
Emmanuel Coppey (France)
Georgii Moroz (Ukraine)
Hairui Lei (China)
Haram Kim (South Korea)
I-Hao Cheng (Taiwan)
Jiang Yiying (China)
Jingzhi Zhang (China)
Joey Lau (Singapore)
Julia Jones (US)
Karisa Chiu (US)
Koshiro Takeuchi (Japan)
Lara Boschkor (Germany)
Jiyoon Lee (South Korea)
Michael Germer (Denmark)
Nakyung Kang (South Korea)
Qingzhu Weng (China)
Dindin Wang (China)
Ruiyi Wang (China)
Yesong Lee (South Korea)
Haewon Yoon (South Korea)
Yu Siqi (China)
Yuri Tanaka (Japan)
Zhang Jingheng (China)
Zi Yang Low (Malaysia)
Zou Meng (China)
2026 marks the fourth edition of the SIVC. The 2022 edition was won by Dmytro Udovychenko, while Sergei Dogadin and Tseng Yu-Chien won the 2018 and 2015 editions respectively.
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