VSA honours instrument and bow makers in biennial competition

Two double golds and nine gold medals were awarded at this year’s Violin Society of America international makers’ competition, held in Cleveland, Ohio, from 4 to 9 November. Over over 350 instruments and 100 bows were submitted.

Double Gold Medal for Tone & Workmanship for violin went to Mira Gruszow and Gideon Baumblatt (who work as a team in Berlin), and in the double bass category to Albuquerque-based Christopher Savino.

This years gold medalists were:

Violin

• Justin A Hess
• David Leonard Wiedmer
• Philip Ihle (The Strad’s lutherie consultant)

Cello

• Hayato Nagaishi
• Damien Gest & David Leonard Wiedmer

Bows

• Yongje Song (for both violin & cello)
• Lucie Martinie (viola)
• Victor Bernard (bass)

The biennial competition has a separate panel of Workmanship and Tone judges, and its rule book states that it aims to identify ‘those instruments and bows having the greatest artistic merit, technical execution, and in the case of instruments, tone quality’.

The competition does not automatically award gold medals to the best entries, reserving that accolade for outstanding examples. In its previous edition, eight bow golds were handed out, but only two for instruments.

Violin Society of America: 23rd International Competition Full list of winners

Violin

Double Gold Medal for Tone & Workmanship

• Mira Gruszow & Gideon Baumblatt

Gold Medal

• Justin A Hess
• David Leonard Wiedmer
• Philip Ihle

Silver Medal for Workmanship

• Arie Werbrouck
• Piotr Pielaszek
• Yunhai Xu
• Mark Schnurr
• Gabor Draskoczy

Silver Medal for Tone

• Ryan L Soltis

Certificate of Merit for Workmanship

• Michael Doran
• Gencer Cerit
• Xiangwei Chen
• Guy Harrison
• Krzysztof Krupa

Certificate of Merit for Tone

• Xiaowei Liu
• Benjun Zheng
• Eduard Miller
• Yan Wang
• Christian Pedersen
• Michael Daddona
• Qi Cao
• Andrew Ryan
• Jiwon Han
• Artur Friedhoff

Viola

Silver Medal for Workmanship

• Piotr Pielaszek
• Noemie Viaud
• David Leonard Wiedmer
• Dong Pil Im
• John Simmers

Double Certificate of Merit for Tone & Workmanship

• Fabienne Gauchet

Certificate of Merit for Workmanship

• Louis Gord
• Weitao Gong
• Yunhai Xu
• Jinlong Yang
• Shiquan Zhaohao

Certificate of Merit for Tone

• Haide Lin & Zu Liang Wu
• Christian Pedersen
• Xiaowei Liu
• Stanley Kiernoziak
• Mason Weedman
• Don Noon
• David Polstein
• Fuzhen Jiang
• Matthew Noykos
• Theodore Skreko

Cello

Gold Medal

• Hayato Nagaishi
• Damien Gest & David Leonard Wiedmer

Silver Medal for Workmanship

• Dong Pil Im
• Viateur Roy

Silver Medal for Tone

• Mira Gruszow & Gideon Baumblatt

Double Certificate of Merit for Tone & Workmanship

• Michael Doran
• Charline Dequincey

Certificate of Merit for Workmanship

• Peter Goodfellow
• Yunhai Xu
• Guy Harrison
• Ian McWilliams

Certificate of Merit for Tone

• Jason Starkie
• Jonathan Hai
• Yi Huan Wang
• Jinlong Yang
• Isabelle Wilbaux
• Fabienne Gauchet
• Frederik Bethke

Bass

Double Gold Medal for Tone & Workmanship

• Christopher Savino

Double Certificate of Merit for Tone & Workmanship

• Trevor Davis
• Evan Davenport

Certificate of Merit for Tone

• Sam Morel

Quartet

Silver Medal for Tone

• Jonathan Hai
• Julia Jostes & Simon Eberl
• Mira Gruszow & Gideon Baumblatt

Certificate of Merit for Workmanship

• Minsung Kim
• Yunhai Xu
• Jinlong Yang

Certificate of Merit for Tone

• Huo Rong Jiang & Yufan Chen
• Zhen Nian Wang
• Kevin Kelly

Violin Bow

Gold Medal

• Yongje Song

Certificate of Merit for Workmanship

• Etzler Bernd
• Ulf Johansson
• Josephine Thomachot
• Niall Flemming
• Eric Gagne
• Victor Bernard
• Marie Chastagnol
• Gary Leahy

Viola Bow

Gold Medal

• Lucie Martinie

Certificate of Merit for Workmanship

• Yongje Song
• Victor Bernard
• Gary Leahy
• Suoyi Ma

Cello Bow

Gold Medal

• Yongje Song

Certificate of Merit for Workmanship

• Marcin Krupa
• Niall Flemming
• Eric Gagne
• Victor Bernard
• Gary Leahy
• Lucie Martinie

Bass Bow

Gold Medal

• Victor Bernard

Certificate of Merit for Workmanship

• Jordan Scapinello