The 40 selected violinists will compete for a $26,000 grand prize in Sendai, Japan in May and June

Naoka_Aoki1

The 40 shortlisted candidates taking part in the 6th Sendai International Violin Competition in Japan have been announced. Hailing from 10 different countries, the violinists will compete from 21 May to 5 June for a top prize of JPY 3,000,000 ($26,000), concert performances and a CD recording.

Among the names are a number of violinists who have excelled in other competitions throughout the past few years, including 2015 International Jean Sibelius Violin Competition finalist Minami Yoshida; Anna Savkina, who won fourth prize at the 2013 Sendai International Violin Competition; 2014 International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition violin category winner Seiji Okamoto; 2014 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis finalist Yoo Jin Jang; and 2014 China International Violin Competition second place winner Naoka Aoki (pictured).

The competitors are:

Ribon Aida, 25, Japan

Misako Akama, 22, Japan

Nikita Akulov, 25, Russia

Naoka Aoki, 23, Japan

Mizuki Chiba, 20, Japan

Fuki Fujie, 25, Japan

Yuichiro Fukuda, 25, Japan

Yoko Ishikura, 19, Japan

Yoo Jin Jang, 25, Korea

Meruert Karmenova, 22, Kazakhstan

Karen Kido, 21, Japan

Damin Kim, 25, Korea

Stephen Kim, 20, USA

Honoka Kishimoto, 21, Japan

Daniil Kogan, 22, Canada/Russia

Ryota Kuratomi, 24, Japan

Yu Kurokawa, 26, Japan

Kevin Lin, 22, Taiwan/USA

Seina Matsuoka, 22, Japan

Daichi Nakamura, 25, Japan

Kaoru Oe, 22, Japan

Kyoko Ogawa, 23, Japan

Seiji Okamoto, 21, Japan

Yurina Otsuka, 26, Japan

Sungmi Park, 24, Korea

Yue Qian, 20, China

Anna Savkina, 21, Russia

Julie Svecena, 21, Czech Republic

Kelly Talim, 20, USA

Yabing Tan, 25, China

Gabriel Tchalik, 26, France

Mayu Tomotaki, 20, Japan

Natsumi Tsuboi, 22, Japan

Eimi Wakui, 23, Japan

Momo Wong, 21, Japan/USA

Haoming Xie, 26, China

Minami Yoshida    , 17, Japan

Arata Yumi, 24, Japan

Yang Zhang, 25, China

This year’s jury, chaired by Yuzuko Horigome, includes vice chairpersons Masafumi Hori and Rodney Friend, in addition to Boris Belkin, Mauricio Fuks, Mengla Huang, Tomoko Kato, Younguck Kim, Gidon Kremer, Cho-Liang Lin, Régis Pasquier and Kyoko Takezawa.

Held every three years in piano and violin disciplines the competition is open to candidates of all nationalities up to the age of 28. Winner of the 2013 Sendai Violin Competition was Richard Lin.

For full details visit the Sendai International Music Competition website.

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