BREAKING | Chinese Violist Diyang Mei Awarded 1st Prize at ARD International Viola Comp

23-year-old Diyang Mei from China has been awarded 1st prize at the 2018 ARD International Viola Competition – in Munich, Germany

23-year-old Diyang Mei from China has been awarded 1st prize at the 2018 ARD International Viola Competition – in Munich, Germany.

2nd and 3rd prizes were awarded to 25-year-old Yucheng Shi from China and 20-year-old Takehiro Konoe from Japan.

A graduate of Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music, and current student of Hariolf Schlichtig at the Munich Hochschule für Musik, Diyang is a former major prize winner at the Brahms, Max Rostal and Markneukirchen International Viola Competitions.

He will receive €10,000 – plus and a number of important debut concert and recording invitations.

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

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