2020 Shanghai Violin Competition Names 36 Contestants and Relaunches after COVID Delay

April 30, 2021, 6:05 PM · The Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition has announced 36 contestants that will participate in its delayed 2020 edition, which is now scheduled to begin online this August with Quarter and Semi-Final rounds, followed by an in-person Final Round in 2022 that will take place in Shanghai.

Though the 2020 competition was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will retain "2020" in its title, in honor of the 100th anniversary of its namesake, the legendary violinist Isaac Stern, born in 1920.

The 36 SISIVC quarterfinalists are from 17 countries and regions, representing music schools including The Juilliard School, Curtis Institute, Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, New England Conservatory of Music, Royal Conservatory of Music, Oxford University, and Conservatoire de Paris. They were chosen from 102 applicants from 31 countries and regions around the world. Here is a full list of the quarterfinalists:

Oganes Arustamov, Russia
Yunfei Bai, China
Marie Bégin, Canada
Stefan Besan, Romania
Angela Sin Ying Chan, Hong Kong, China
Hawijch Elders, Netherlands
Hiu Sing Fan, Hong Kong, China
Liucong Feng, China
Kristine Clair Galano, Philippines
Lusine Harutyunyan, Armenia
Maja Horvat, Slovenia
Sayuri Kuru, Japan
Alice Lee, Canada
Shannon Lee, United States
SooBeen Lee, South Korea
William Lee, Taiwan, China
Youjin Lee, South Korea
Thomas Lefort, France
Ruifeng Lin, China
Charlie Lovell-Jones, United Kingdom
Nao Mizukoshi, Japan
Elias David Moncado, Germany
Ashley Jeehyun Park, United States
Yue Qian, China
Anna Savkina, Russia
Felicitas Schiffner, Germany
Zixuan Shen, China
Steven Song, United States
Haozhe Song, China
Stepan Starikov, Russia
Sophia Su, United States
Katherine Woo, United States
Rino Yoshimoto, Japan
Arata Yumi, Japan
Jingzhi Zhang, China
Philip Zuckerman, Sweden

"The pandemic has dealt a blow to the global performing arts industry, and it has also caused many young people to lose opportunities," said SISIVC Organization Committee President Long Yu. "We cannot let them wait for too long. The violin competition is restarting online, and we hope to give a stage to young people from different countries to allow them to displaytheir talents, realize their dreams, and use music to convey confidence and hope to the world."

The online Quarter-Final Round will take place from August 13 to 16, and the 18 contestants who advance will participate in the online Semi-Final Round from August 18 to 21. On August 22, the six Finalists will be announced to participate in the live competition in Shanghai in 2022, in accordance with national pandemic prevention and control guidelines.

During the Finals, contestants will perform a newly-commissioned Chinese work, Violin Concerto "Night Tour" by Chinese composer Zhou Tian; as well as a string quartet piece and a violin concerto of their choice with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

Jurors will include David Stern (Co-Chairman), Vera Tsu Weiling (Co-Chairman), Martin Campbell-White, Glenn Dicterow, Emmanuel Hondrè, Weigang Li, Ning Feng, and Philip Setzer.

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