BREAKING | Finalists Announced at Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition

The 12 Finalists have been announced at the 2019 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition – including 5 VC Young Artists

The 12 Finalists have just minutes ago been announced at the 2019 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition – in Brussels, Belgium.

The 2019 Finalists are:

• VC Young Artist Timothy Chooi (25, Canada)
• VC Young Artist Ioana Cristina Goicea (26, Romania)
• VC Young Artist Luke Hsu (28, United States)
• VC Young Artist Stephen Kim (23, United States)
• VC Young Artist Ji Won Song (26, South Korea)
• Stella Chen (26, United States)
• Sylvia Huang (25, Belgium)
• Shannon Lee (26, Canada/United States)
• Seiji Okamoto (24, Japan)
• Julia Pusker (27, Hungary)
• Eva Rabchevska (22, Ukraine)
• Yukiko Uno (23, Japan)

For the Final stage, to be held from the 20th to the 26th of May, each finalist will perform a major concerto of their own choice, plus an unpublished work specially written for this year’s competition by composer Kimmo Hakola – with conductor Hugh Wolf and the Belgian National Orchestra.

Each of the 12 finalists will this week enter the isolation of the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth conservatory – to complete their final stages of preparation.

It is mandatory, as condition of the competition, for each finalist to spend the preceding 7 days within the closed confines of the school – so to focus physically and mentally and study the previously unpublished set work without external influence.

During this isolation period, each candidate is forbidden from making contact with any person outside the competition establishment.

Open to international violinists aged 18 to 30 years old who are ready to embark on an international career, the 1st prize winner will receive €25,000, a CD recording, a number of important international performance opportunities – plus the 4 year use of the 1708 ‘Huggins‘ Stradivarius, on generous loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.

The 2019 jury comprises: Pierre Amoyal, Martin Beaver, Corina Belcea, Patrice Fontanarosa, Pamela Frank, Lorenzo Gatto, Koichiro Harada, Yossif Ivanov, Dong-Suk Kang, Victor Kissine, Jaime Laredo, Shirly Laub, Mihaela Martin, Midori, Natalia Prischepenko, Vadim Repin and Arabella Steinbacher.

Previous 1st prize winners include: David Oistrakh, Leonid Kogan, Jaime Laredo, Philippe Hischhorn, Miriam Fried, Vadim Repin, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Baiba Skride – and VC Artists Ray Chen and Ji-Young Lim.

 

VC YOUNG ARTIST TIMOTHY CHOOI  | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL RECITAL

 

VC YOUNG ARTIST TIMOTHY CHOOI | MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 5 IN A MAJOR | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL

 

VC YOUNG ARTIST IOANA CRISTINA GOICEA  | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL RECITAL

 

VC YOUNG ARTIST IOANA CRISTINA GOICEA | MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 5 IN A MAJOR | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL

 

VC YOUNG ARTIST LUKE HSU | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL RECITAL

 

VC YOUNG ARTIST LUKE HSU | MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 4 IN D MAJOR | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL

 

VC YOUNG ARTIST STEPHEN KIM | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL RECITAL

 

VC YOUNG ARTIST STEPHEN KIM | MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 5 IN MAJOR | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL

 

VC YOUNG ARTIST JI WON SONG | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL RECITAL

 

VC YOUNG ARTIST JI WON SONG | MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 5 IN A MAJOR | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL

 

STELLA CHEN | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL RECITAL

 

STELLA CHEN | MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 5 IN A MAJOR | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL

 

SYLVIA HUANG | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL RECITAL

 

SYLVIA HUANG | MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 1 IN B-FLAT MAJOR | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL

 

SHANNON LEE | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL RECITAL

 

SHANNON LEE | MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 4 IN D MAJOR | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL

SEIJI OKAMOTO | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL RECITAL

 

SEIJI OKAMOTO | MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 5 IN A MAJOR | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL

 

JULIA PUSKER | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL RECITAL

 

JULIA PUSKER | MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 1 IN B-FLAT MAJOR  | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL

 

EVA RABCHEVSKA | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL RECITAL

EVA RABCHEVSKA | MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 5 IN A MAJOR | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL

 

YUKIKO UNO | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL RECITAL

 

YUKIKO UNO | MOZART VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 4 IN D MAJOR | 2019 QUEEN ELISABETH INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | SEMI-FINAL