Violinists Diana Adamyan, Chloe Chua and Christian Li Each Awarded 'First Prize' in 2018 Menuhin Competition

April 21, 2018, 9:26 PM · On Saturday, the 2018 Menuhin Competition announced the top winners in its Senior Division, for violinists ages 16-21, following the announcement of its Junior Division winners (under age 16) on Friday.

First prize in the Senior Division went to Diana Adamyan, 18 of Armenia; and in the Junior Division First Prize was awarded jointly to two violinists: Chloe Chua, 11, of Singapore, and Christian Li, 10, of Australia. All three will perform at the Closing Gala Concert Sunday with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Julian Rachlin at Victoria Hall in Geneva, where the competition has been in progress since April 12. (Find the livestream for the concert on the Menuhin Competition webpage.)

Here are the placements for both divisions:

SENIOR DIVISION

First Prize: Diana Adamyan, 18 of Armenia
Second Prize: Nathan Mierdl, 20, of France/Germany
Third Prize: Hyunjae Lim, 20 of South Korea
Fourth Prize: Tianyou Ma, 17 of China
ARTE online audience prize: Nathan Mierdl
Audience Prize: Diana Adamyan

2018 Menuhin Competition Senior Division Winners.

JUNIOR DIVISION:

First Prize (awarded to two): Chloe Chua, 11, of Singapore, and Christian Li, 10, of Australia.
Third Prize: Ruibing Liu, 13, of China
Fourth Prize: Clara Shen, 12 of Germany
Fifth Prize: Hina Khuong-Huu, 13, of USA/Japan/France
Sixth Prize: Guido Sant’anna, 12, of Brazil

Menuhin Competition Jury chair Pamela Frank announces Junior Division winners on Friday.

Here is a detailed list of prizes awarded.

The biennial Menuhin Competition was started in 1983 by violinist Yehudi Menuhin. On Saturday the competition announced its host city for 2020, which will be Richmond, Va., in the United States.

This year's competition drew more than 300 applicants worldwide, with 44 violinists representing 17 nationalities chosen to participate in the live competition. This year's jury includes Pamela Frank (chair), Joji Hattori (vice chair), Itamar Golan, Ilya Gringolts, Henning Kraggerud, Lu Siqing, Maxim Vengerov, Soyoung Yoon and Josef Spacek.

BELOW: Senior Division First Prize winner Diana Adamyan plays the Bruch Concerto in the Finals:

BELOW: Junior Division First Prize winner Christian Li performs his full semi-finals program: Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 12, No. 1, 1st movement; Piazzolla Histoire du Tango, Café 1930; H. Wieniawski Polonaise de Concert in D major, Op. 4.

BELOW: Junior Division First Prize winner Chloe Chua performs her full semi-finals program: Beethoven Violin Sonata No. 8 in G major, Op. 30, No. 3, 1st movement; A. Piazzolla Histoire du Tango, Café 1930; Hubay Carmen Fantasie Brillante.

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Replies

172.250.103.8

April 22, 2018 at 03:42 PM · Little Chloe is so adorable and such an accomplished player. She needs a center mount chin rest, though, IMHO :-) As for seniors, I so preferred the French-German guy...

Peter Charles

April 24, 2018 at 05:48 AM · The senior winner with the Bruch concerto was very good.

Notable with both the junior winners was any real ability to play a good legato stroke and all the emphasis was on flying around, so not very impressive. This is probably due to a type of high pressure training where some sort of facility is given more importance than tone production and musicality. They both seemed to have been influenced in the same way.