Violist Emad Zolfaghari's Prizewinning Performance at 2023 Klein Competition

Applications for this year's competition are closing on February 3, 2024

The 39th edition of the California Music Center's Irving M. Klein International String Competition will take place on June 1 and 2, 2024 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Applications must be received by February 3, 2024.

The competition is for string players aged between 15 and 23 of any nationality, who are not currently receiving professional management. This year, the competition introduced a new accessibility initiative in the form of fee scholarships. These awards will waive the cost of the application fee, ensuring that nobody is excluded from applying for the competition based on financial circumstances.

Watch last year's winner, violist Emad Zolfaghari, perform in the 2023 Finals below:

Violist Emad Zolfaghari was accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music at age 16, where he currently studies with Hsin-Yun Huang and Misha Amory. In addition to winning the first prize winner of the 2023 Irving M. Klein International String Competition, he was also the first violist to ever be awarded first prize at the International Morningside Music Bridge Competition in 2023. His other awards include Grand Prize at the OMNI Music Competition, first prize at the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra Competition, Guelph Symphony Orchestra Competition and Oakville Chamber Orchestra Competition, second prize at the Ronald Sachs International Music Competition, and top and special prizes at the Shean Strings Competition.

Emad has appeared as a soloist with several major symphony orchestras, including l’Orchestre Métropolitain in Maison Symphonique de Montréal under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in Roy Thomson Hall, the National Philharmonic in Strathmore Hall, the Oakville Chamber Orchestra and the National Metropolitan Philharmonic.