The artists will have the chance to perform to be accepted into a three-year YCA Jacobs Fellowship, with the semi-finals starting on 5 November
Young Concert Artists (YCA) has announced the semi-finalists in the 2025 Susan Wadsworth International Auditions.
37 artists have been selected from a pool of more than 200 applicants to advance to the semi-final round on 5-7 November 2025 at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center in New York City.
The semi-finalists include numerous string players: violinists Tianyou Ma, Christina Nam, Hannah Tam, Claire Wells; violists Laura Liu and Samuel Rosenthal; cellists Hun Choi, Simon Tetzlaff and Antoni Wrona.
Also included are piano trios Amara Trio, Trio Azura and Paddington Trio; the Kleio and Katarina quartets, and piano-violin duo Jiusi Zhang and Ray Ushikubo.
Also selected as semi-finalists are pianists Elias Ackerley, Charles Berofsky, Laure Cholé, Derek Hartman, Yongqiu Liu, Derek Wang, Zihao Wu; clarinetists Elad Navon and Pablo López Ortega; flutists Nikka Gershman and Arin Sarkissian; oboist Ben Price; saxophonists Estel Vivo Casanovas and Colin Crake; sopranos Kerrigan Bigelow, Juliet Schlefer, and Margaret Tigue; baritone Korin Thomas-Smith; bass Vinicius Costa; guitarist Muxin Li; and woodwind quintet ZaRiah.
YCA President Daniel Kellogg will head the jury for the semi-final and final rounds, which comprises YCA founder Susan Wadsworth, pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, former Opus 3 Artists senior vice president Pat Winter, violinist Chee-Yun, conductor and flutist Ransom Wilson, cellist Alban Gerhardt, violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama, and the Metropolitan Opera’s Ken Noda, musical advisor for the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.
This year’s 37 semi-finalists will travel to New York for the two remaining rounds of auditions, performing for the chance to join the YCA Roster either as soloists or – in a new offering for ensembles – as YCA’s first ensemble-in-residence.
The winners will be announced on 10 November. The YCA Jacobs Fellowship offers a holistic system of support and opportunities, including artist management, performance opportunities at top venues around the globe, mentorship from YCA leadership and alumni, training in education and community engagement projects, plus brand development.
This year for the first time, the jury will also select up to three laureates, who will receive $5,000 in career development grants and an invitation to compete in the semi-final round of future audition cycles.
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