Ten violinists aged 14 to 18 compete for the Thomas & Evon Cooper International Competition’s $20,000 top prize

Cooper Competition participants 2019

The 2019 Cooper Competition participants with jury chair Gregory Fulkerson

Ten young violinists have proceeded to today’s (23 July) concerto round of the Thomas & Evon Cooper International Competition at Oberlin College, Ohio, starting at 1.30pm EDT.

Following this, six candidates will be chosen to progress to the recital finals on 24 July, leading to a concerto final on Friday 26 July in which three remaining violinists will compete for a top prize of $20,000, performing with the Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall.

The ten remaining competitors, their time slot and concerto choice are:

SESSION I

  • 1:30 Yixuan Jiang, 14, China | N. PAGANINI Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 6
  • 2:05 Jin Yucheng, 17, China | P. TCHAIKOVSKY Concerto in D Major, Op. 35
  • 2:40 Shihan Wang, 14, China | F. MENDELSSOHN Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64

BREAK

  • 3:30 Alexandra Woroniecka, 17, USA | A. DVOŘÁK Concerto in A Minor, Op. 53
  • 4:05 Eric Charles Chen, 18, USA | S. PROKOFIEV Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63
  • 4:40 Isabella Brown, 16, USA | A. DVOŘÁK Concerto in A minor, Op. 53

SESSION II

  • 7:00 Joanne Lin, 16, Taiwan | A. DVOŘÁK Concerto in A Minor, Op. 53
  • 7:35 Claire Arias-Kim, 17, USA | A. DVOŘÁK Concerto in A Minor, Op. 53

BREAK

  • 8:25 Enrique Rodrigues, 17, USA/Canada | M. BRUCH Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26
  • 9:00 Yiyang Hou, 14, China | J. SIBELIUS Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47

The Cooper International Competition, presented jointly by the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Cleveland Orchestra, began life as the Oberlin International Festival in 1985 and after a brief hiatus returned in 2010 sponsored by Thomas and Evon Cooper.

It has recently doubled its prize pot to $40,000, of which $20,000 goes to the winner, $10,000 to second place and $5,000 to third, with $1,500 each for fourth to sixth positions, plus a $500 audience prize.

The jury, chaired by former Oberlin professor Gregory Fulkerson, comprises: Sibbi Bernhardsson, Radu Blidar, Yi Huang, Marilyn McDonald, Naoko Tanaka and Almita Vamos.

Previous winners of the competition include Johan Dalene in 2017 and Sirena Huang in 2011.

The competition will be streamed live here

 

 

 

 

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