Canadian event’s first round starts this evening with 24 candidates from around the world, with some new additions 

Montreal competitors

The Concours musical international de Montréal, which is this year devoted to the violin, begins its first round this evening at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ Bourgie Hall.

It concludes with the final on 4 on 5 June at the Maison symphonique with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.

There have been a few substitutions since the candidate list was first announced.

Among the competitors whose progress at other events forced them to drop out were Stella Chen, who has just won the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium, and Stephen Kim, who came third.

The 24 competitors are:

(Pictured top row, left to right)

  • Clarissa Bevilacqua (Italy/US)
  • Zachary Brandon (US)
  • Elina Buksha (Latvia)
  • Elli Choi (US)
  • Jung Min Choi (South Korea)
  • Maria Dueñas (Spain)

(Pictured second row, left to right)

  • Leonard Fu (Germany)
  • Gyehee Kim (South Korea)
  • Youjin Lee (South Korea)
  • Anna Lee (US/South Korea)
  • Lun Li (China)
  • Christine Lim (US/South Korea)

(Pictured third row, left to right)

  • Hyun Jae Lim (South Korea)
  • Michiru Matsuyama (Japan)
  • Fumika Mohri (Japan/Germany)
  • Daichi Nakamura (Japan/Austria)
  • Johanna Pichlmair (Austria)
  • Olga Šroubková (Czech Republic)

(Pictured bottom row, left to right)

  • Hannah Tarley (US)
  • Coco Tomita (Japan)
  • Melody Ye Yuan (Canada)
  • Jinyoung Yoon (South Korea)
  • Vasyl Zatsikha (Ukraine)
  • Hao Zhou (US)

The first prize laureate wins CA$30,000 cash, $50,000 career development grant, a new instrument, plus a residency at the Banff Centre. Second and third prize win CA$15,000 and $10,000 respectively, and there are a number of special awards.

A number of the candidates have placed highly in previous competitions, including Olga Šroubková, Maria Dueñas, Zachary Brandon, Youjin Lee, Anna Lee, and Elli Choi.

The jury comprises Pierre Amoyal, Michael Haefliger, Kim Kashkashian, Boris Kuschnir, Cho-Liang Lin, Mihaela Martin, Barry Shiffman, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, and Pavel Vernikov. Zarin Mehta, former director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and New York Philharmonic, is jury president.

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