Colburn's Trio Azura Wins 2024 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition

May 12, 2024, 5:52 PM · Congratulations to the winners in the 51st annual Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, in which dozens of ensembles from around the world competed last month, May 10-12 at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.

Out of 59 competing ensembles from around the world, Trio Azura, a piano trio from the Colburn Conservatory School of Music in Los Angeles, won the Grand Prize Medal ($15,000 award). They also won the Gold Medal in the Senior String Division.

Trio Azura was founded in 2022 at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles. Violinist Duncan McDougall, cellist Yejin Hong, and pianist Yanfeng (Tony) Bai study with Martin Beaver, Clive Greensmith, and Fabio Bidini. In 2023, Trio Azura participated in the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, where they were awarded the "Rotary Club Siena" prize and performed in recital with Clive Greensmith. Trio Azura was also selected to participate in the 2023 ARD International Music Competition. They also have participated in masterclasses with pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Orion Weiss, and Pedja Mužijevic; violinist Arnaud Sussman; and cellist Nicholas Tzavaras.

Trio Azura: Tony Bai, Yejin Hong and Duncan McDougall.

In addition to prize money, Trio Azura (along with Senior Wind Division Gold Medal winner LOTUS Quartet) will participate in the Fischoff Double Gold Tour of the Midwestern United States this fall, performing concerts and outreach. Trio Azura's Grand Prize also includes performing several concerts at the Emilia Romagna Festival in Italy in 2025.

Here are the final results of the 2024 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition:

SENIOR STRING DIVISION

GRAND PRIZE and GOLD MEDAL ($15,000)

Trio Azura
Colburn Conservatory School of Music, Los Angeles, CA

Duncan McDougall, violin
Yejin Hong, cello
Yanfeng (Tony) Bai, piano

BELOW: The Trio Azura performs Jennifer Higdon's Piano Trio No. 1, Mvt 1 Pale Yellow:

SILVER MEDAL ($4,000)

Hesper Quartet
Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
Juilliard School, New York, NY

Sojeong Kim, violin
Ye jin Yoon, violin
SoHui Yun, viola
Connor Kim, cello

BRONZE MEDAL ($3,000)

Erinys Quartet
Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, PA

Elizabeth Stewart, violin
Joosep Reimaa, violin
Marija Räisänen, viola
Stergios Theodoridis, cello

Lift Every Voice Prize ($1,500)
Best performance of a piece by a historically underrepresented composer in the chamber music world.

Trio Azura

Horszowski Trio Prize for Piano Trio ($600)
Awarded to the top-ranked trio consisting of piano, violin & cello. In addition to the cash prize, the winner will be invited to the Mimir Festival to work with the Horszowski Trio and other distinguished faculty members
.
Trio Azura

Jury members for the Senior Division included Natasha Brofsky, Gilbert Kalish, Ah Ling Neu and Ian Swensen.

JUNIOR STRING DIVISION

GOLD MEDAL ($2,500)

Saphir Quartet
Barratt-Due Institute of Music, Oslo, Norway

Philippe Jayer, violin/viola
Torje Råbu, violin/viola
Amanda Noor Vatn, violin/viola
Iris Kalliovirta, cello

SILVER MEDAL ($2,000)

Breshears String Quartet
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco, CA

Dustin Breshears, violin
Valery Breshears, violin
Colin Breshears, viola
Starla Breshears, cello

BRONZE MEDAL ($1,500)

Quartet Meraviglia
The Music Institute of Chicago Academy, Evanston, IL

Elle Cho, violin
Lauren Kim, violin
Emily Chen, viola
Lucy Wu, cello

Horszowski Trio Prize for Piano Trio ($300)
Awarded to the top-ranked trio consisting of piano, violin & cello.

Trío de Ángeles
Colburn Music Academy, Los Angeles, CA

Esme Arias-Kim, violin
Angela Rose Padula, cello
Caden Lin, piano

Jury members for the Junior Division included Pamela Highbaugh Aloni, Dorothy Ro and Paul Nitsch.

The Fischoff competition was founded in 1973 by Joseph E. Fischoff and members of the South Bend (Ind.) Chamber Music Society.

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Colburn's Trio Azura Wins 2024 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition

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