Semi-Finalists Announced in the 2021 Primrose International Viola Competition

December 14, 2021, 11:24 PM · On Tuesday eight semi-finalists were announced in the 2021 Primrose International Viola Competition, which is taking place this week at The Colburn School in Los Angeles.

Semi-Finalists in the 2021 Primrose International Viola Competition

They are:

Keoni Bolding, 24, of the U.S.
Brian Isaacs, 21, of the U.S.
Natalie Loughran, of the U.S.
Samuel Rosenthal, 21, of the U.S.
Ursula Steele, 25, of the U.S.
Nicholas Swensen, of Denmark/U.S.
Mingyue Yu, 21, of China
SoHui Yun, of South Korea

The semi-finals will take place on Thursday, with the final round and award ceremony on Saturday. Click here to watch previous and future livestreams throughout the week.

A Viola Mini-Fest, with lectures, exhibits, master classes and recitals, also will take place on Friday and Saturday at Colburn. (Stop by and see me on Saturday at the Violinist.com table - we'll be giving away luggage tags for your instrument case and selling "Violinist.com Interviews" books.) Here is a schedule, which includes events for both the competition and mini-fest.

Prizes in the Primrose competition include a $15,000 first prize; $10,000 second prize; $5,000 third prize; $1,000 transcriptions prize; and a new category, $1,000 prize for the best performance of a work by a BIPOC composer. The first prize winner will also perform at the 2022 American Viola Society Festival and 47th International Viola Congress in June 2022.

This year's jury includes Barry Shiffman (Chairman), Andrés Cárdenes, Victoria Chiang, Daniel Heifetz, Mai Motobuchi, Dimitri Murrath, and Chauncey Patterson.

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