The candidates will compete for $86,000 in prizes – including a top prize of $30,000

RichardLin

The 2016 Montreal International Music Competition – this year dedicated to the violin – has named the 24 shortlisted candidates who will compete in the live rounds between 22 May and 2 June. The 16 women and 8 men from 13 countries will compete for over $86,000 in prizes – including a top prize of $30,000 and concert engagements.

This year’s shortlist includes a number of players familiar to the competition circuit, including 2015 Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition Hannover third prize winner Richard Lin (pictured); 2015 Singapore International Violin Competition third prize winner Sirena Huang; 2012 Menuhin Competition Senior Division winner Kenneth Renshaw; 2013 Rodolfo Lipizer International Violin Competition winner Fedor Roudine; Tchaikovsky Competition 2015 finalist Bomsori Kim; and 2015 Joseph Joachim Violin Competition fifth place laureate Ayana Tsuji.

The full list of candidates is as follows:

Laura Bortolotto, Italy

Richard Lin, Taiwan/United States

Elina Buksha, Latvia

Albrecht Menzel, Germany

Daniel Cho, United States

Diana Pasko, Russia

Clémence de Forceville, France

Liya Petrova Konyarova, Bulgaria

Sirena Huang, United States

Kenneth Renshaw, United States

Petteri Iivonen, Finland

Fedor Roudine, France

Bomsori Kim, South Korea

Ji Won Song, South Korea

Gyehee Kim, South Korea

Elly Suh, United States/South Korea

Woo Hyung Kim, South Korea

Mai Suzuki, Japan

Mariya Krasnyuk, Ukraine/United States

Ayana Tsuji, Japan

Ji Eun Lee, South Korea

Xiao Wang, China

Christine Lim, United States

Minami Yoshida, Japan

The 2016 candidates, each aged under 29, will perform for an international jury comprising Pierre Amoyal (France); Boris Brott (Canada); Boris Garlitsky (Russia); Ida Kavafian (Armenia/United States); Mihaela Martin (Romania); Vera Tsu Wei Ling (China); and Kathleen Winkler (United States). This year’s pre-selection jury included Jonathan Crow, Boris Kuschnir, Douglas McNabney, Lucie Robert, and Andrew Wan.

The Montreal International Music Competition takes place annually in, by turns, violin, piano and voice categories.