Candidates Announced for Germany’s 2018 ARD International Viola Competition

The 49 opening-round candidates for the 2018 ARD International Viola Competition have been announced

The 49 opening-round candidates for the 2018 ARD International Viola Competition have been announced – to be held in Munich, Germany from the 7th - 16th of September, 2018.

The 2018 opening-round viola candidates are:

• VC Young Artist Ziyu Shen (China)
• Heejin Chang (South Korea)
• En-Chi Cheng (Taiwan)
• Editha Seung Won Chung (South Korea)
• Njord Kårason Fossnes (Norway)
• Ricardo Gaspar (Portugal)
• Yitong Guo (China)
• Ming-Yu Hsu (Taiwan)
• Saki Ishida (Japan)
• MinGwan Kim (South Korea)
• Sengyun Kim (South Korea)
• Gueli Kim (South Korea)
• Jiwon Kim (South Korea)
• Takehiro Konoe (Japan)
• Georgy Kovalev (Russia)
• Yana Kucherova (Russia)
• Hwayoon Lee (South Korea)
• Sangyoon Lee (South Korea)
• Seo Hyeun Lee (South Korea)
• Geunhee Lee (South Korea)
• Wenguan Li (China)
• Jungmin Lim (South Korea)
• Wenhong Luo (China)
• Anna Lysenko (Ukraine)
• Agnès Mauri Galik (Poland/Spain)
• Diyang Mei (China)
• Seohyun Moon (South Korea)
• Aoi Murase (Japan)
• Wakana Ono (Japan)
• Kouhei Ota (Japan)
• Peter Pavlov (Russia)
• Jing Peng (China)
• Agnieszka Podłucka (Poland)
• Tobias Reifland (Germany)
• Lara Sophie Schmitt (Austria)
• Yucheng Shi (China)
• Ayako Tahara (Japan)
• Maya Tal (Israel)
• German Tcakulov (Russia)
• Kei Tojo (Japan)
• Manuel Vioque-Judde (France)
• Shuhan Wang (China)
• Tung Ou Yang (Taiwan)
• Yuri Yoon (South Korea)
• Paula Zarzo (Spain)
• Lan Zhang (China)
• Qiyun Zhao (China)
• Zhanbo Zheng (China)
• Sarina Zickgraf (Germany)

Open to young international musicians, aged 17 to 35 who are ready to launch an international career, the 1st prize winner will receive €10,000 – and a number of important debut concert and recording invitations.

The 2018 viola competition jury will comprise: Vladimir Bukač, Nicholas Cords, Nobuko Imai, Garth Knox, Thomas Riebl, Maxim Rysanov and Geraldine Walther.

Previous ARD competition category prize winners include: Christian Tetzlaff, Jessye Norman, Natalia Gutman, Christoph Eschenbach, Mitsuko Uchida, Yuri Bashmet, Igor Ozim, Dora Schwarzberg – and VC Artists Bomsori Kim and Sarah Christian.

As the ARD competition’s official 2018 international media partner, The Violin Channel will be providing exclusive rolling-coverage – live from the venue.

PICTURED: 2018 ARD INTERNATIONAL VIOLA COMPETITION CANDIDATE, VC YOUNG ARTIST ZIYU SHEN FROM CHINA