VC Rising Star Johan Dalene Awarded 1st Prize at America’s Cooper International Violin Comp

16 year old VC Rising Star Johan Dalene has been awarded 1st prize at the 2017 Thomas & Evon Cooper International Violin Competition

16 year old VC Rising Star Johan Dalene from Sweden has been awarded 1st prize at the 2017 Thomas & Evon Cooper International Violin Competition, at Oberlin College, in Ohio, United States.

“I saw the best Tchaikovsky Concerto that I’ve ever heard … ” Longtime Competition Director and 2017 Jury Chair Gregory Fulkerson has said.

“... I’ve been waiting 60 years to hear someone take the Tchaikovsky Concerto and understand the score so profoundly that he can take it to the world and interpret it in precisely the way the composer intended … it was simply spectacular,” he has said.

17 year old Qing Yu Chen from the United States and 14 year old Christina Jihee Nam from the United States were awarded joint-2nd prize.

A student of Per Enoksson at the Royal College of Music, in Stockholm, Johan will receive US$20,000 – plus a number of important American debut opportunities.

4th, 5th and 6th prizes were awarded to 18 year old Zachary Brandon from the United States, 17 year old Maya Anjali Buchanan from the United States and 18 year old Kiarra Saito-Beckman from the United States.

VC Rising Star Johan Dalene was also awarded this year’s ‘Audience Prize’ - following the Semi-Final Round.

This year’s jury comprises: Gregory Fulkerson (Chair), Sibbi Bernhardsson, David Bowlin, Chenxing Huang, Haik Kazazyan, Marilyn McDonald, Mark Messenger, Jan Mark Sloman, Naoko Tanaka and Milan Vitek.

Open to international violinists aged 14 to 18, previous 1st prize winners include VC Young Artist Sirena Huang.