Barbash Bach Competition Doubles Grand Prize

Now offering a $10,000 first prize, the Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition Finals will be held at Long Island’s Stony Brook University on October 16, and streamed live on the Violin Channel

Open to string players worldwide, ages 16-30, the annual Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach String Competition focuses on Bach’s repertoire for unaccompanied bowed string instruments. The Grand Prize will also include performance engagements with Presenting Partners the Washington Bach Consort, The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Gotham Early Music Scene, Amor Artis, and the Island Symphony Orchestra.

The second prize winner will be awarded $2,500.

The 2025 jurors are violist Kim Kashkashian, cellist Colin Carr, violinist Renée Jolles, harpsichordist Arthur Haas, and cellist Kenneth Slowik.

Applications are open until June 15, 2025. The finalists will be announced on July 30, 2025. To apply, click here.

Past winners include violinists Rachell Ellen Wong, Lun Li, Tianyou Ma, and Emmanuel Coppey, double bassist Nina Bernat, and cellist Maxime Quennesson.

This competition honors Lillian and Maurice Barbash for their lifelong support of the arts.