40 contestants will have the chance of winning JPY 3,000,000 (US$29,000) at the competition held from 21 May

Photo source: Sendai Internation Music Competition website

The Sendai International Music Competition has announced the 40 violin contestants who have been selected for the competition starting on Saturday 21 May, concluding on Sunday 5 June.  

The competition focuses heavily on concertos with semi-finalists having the opportunity to perform with the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra.  

The Gold Medal prize winner will be awarded a cash prize of JPY 3,000,000 (US$ 29,000), CD production, concerts with Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra and other major concerts in Japan.  

The previous edition of the competition was held in 2019. No first prize was awarded, with Canadian violinist Shannon Lee taking second prize.

The contestants are:  

Julia Angelov  

Jihyun Baik 

I-Hao Cheng 

Sungmin Cho 

Lingyu Dong  

Viacheslav Ermolaev 

Kaori Furusawa  

Dennis Gasanov 

Yanis Grisó 

Seonglan Hong  

Yuki Ishihara 

Miray Ito  

Yeyeong Jenny Jin 

Nahae Kang  

Maya Alexandra Kasprzak  

Eugene Kawai  

Karen Kido  

Sijun Kim  

Miya Kitsuwa  

Alice Haekyo Lee 

Youjin Lee 

Tianyou Ma 

Siena Matsuoka  

Mitsuki Nakajima  

Naoko Nakajima  

Yukino Nakamura 

Lina Nakano 

Yoshie Okura  

Audrey Park  

Tami Pohjola  

Andrew Samarasekara 

Yo Saotome  

Mio Sasaki  

Tomotaka Seki  

Ryo Shimakata  

Koshiro Takeuchi 

Christine Wu  

Maki Yamauchi