In a first for the competition, only a $1,000 second prize was given
For the first time in its history, the jury of the Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition decided not to award the competition’s $5,000 first prize. Instead, it awarded second prize to US violinist Isabelle Durrenberger, who receives $1,000. The competition does not award prizes past second prize, making Durrenberger the only prize winner out of the four finalists.
In the announcement of the results after the 17 October final, jury member Colin Carr explained the decision: ‘What I’m going to tell you know is always controversial… But it is something that we all really do agree on. The disappointing thing is that we are unable to award a first prize… We will certainly be glad to talk to the four of you now or later. It’s something really important and we do feel it’s our duty to be frank with you and straightforward and transparent, and tell you why this is.’
The finals were held at Stony Brook University’s Staller Recital Hall in Long Island, New York. The contestants performed pieces from Bach’s Partitas, Sonatas or Suites. The annual competition is open to string players aged 16 to 30 and specialises in performing works by Bach for unaccompanied bowed stringed instruments.
Durrenberger is a 2022 graduate of the New England Conservatory in Boston, where she studied with Soovin Kim and Don Weilerstein. She has attended festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival and Four Seasons Spring Workshop. She also completed her bachelor’s at the Cleveland Institute of Music under the tuition of Jaime Laredo. She currently serves on the violin faculty at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School where she teaches violin lessons and coaches chamber music.
Currently based in New York City, Durrenberger is a 2023-25 fellow of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect programme. Other competition experience includes winning the 2021-22 Borromeo String Quartet Guest Award, third prize at the 2018 Irving M. Klein International String Competition and first prize at the 2017 Cleveland Insitute of Music Concerto Competition. She was also a semi-finalist of the 2022 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.
This year’s jury comprised Colin Carr, Arthur Haas, Katherine H. Murdock, Soovin Kim and Ingrid Matthews.
Past winners of the competition in recent years include violinist Emmanuel Coppey in 2023, bassist Nina Bernat in 2022 and violinists Lun Li and Tianyou Ma in 2021.
Read: French violinist wins the 2023 Barbash J.S. Bach Competition
Read: Double bassist wins 2022 Barbash J.S. Bach Competition
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