Barbash Bach String Competition Announces 2023 Prize Winners

Grand Prize was awarded to violinist Emmanuel Coppey, while Second Place went to Youjin Lee

Open to international string players between 16 and 30 years of age, the Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach String Competition is focused entirely on the unaccompanied string Partitas, Sonatas, and Suites of J.S. Bach.

Violinists Karisa Chiu, Emmanuel Coppey, Sory Park, and Youjin Lee competed in the Finals of the 2023 Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition on Friday, October 20 at Stony Brook University’s Staller Center Recital Hall. You can watch the finals on The Violin Channel, here.

In 2023, the jury will comprise violinists Ani Kavafian, Daniel Stepner, and Cynthia Roberts; cellist Colin Carr, and harpsichordist Arthur Haas.

As the Grand Prize winner, Emmanuel Coppey will receive $5,000 and 5 paid performing engagements with some of the most prestigious baroque presenters in the country — including Gotham Early Music Scene (GEMS), the Washington Bach Consort, Bach Choir of Bethlehem, and Amor Artis.

As the second prize winner, Youjin Lee will receive a prize of $1,000.

Both prizewinners will also perform in a joint concert hosted by the NYC-based Gotham Early Music Scene (GEMS). This concert will be streamed live, and the recording will be made available to the performers for their personal use.

A City Music Foundation artist, Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel Artiste en Résidence, Frankfurt Ensemble Modern Academy, and London Contemporary Soloists member, London-based French violinist Emmanuel Coppey is building a solid concert career. As a soloist, he collaborated with Rachel Podger, Alexei Ogrintchouk, Guy van Waas, and Christopher Warren-Green, and he appeared on Belgian national television for the Royal Christmas concert playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons. 

A sought-after chamber musician, Coppey played with Nelson Goerner, Marc Coppey, Augustin Dumay, Emre Şener, Anna Vinitskaya, Barbara Hannigan, Nicolas Baldeyrou, François Salque, Guillaume Bellom, Martin Beaver, Sena Bielander, Bertrand Chamayou, Frank Braley, in major European chamber music festivals. Coppey performs in many community projects, through non-profit organizations such as Concerts de Poche or the Chapel Community Concerts, but also Paris Youth Music Society, which he created in 2021 and which organizes concerts in schools, emergency centers, and retirement houses. 

His repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary music and includes all Bach Sonatas and Partitas. As an arranger, he also wrote a showpiece based on Dukas Apprenti Sorcier. Coppey received the guidance of legendary violinists György Pauk and Augustin Dumay. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Music and Paris Conservatory where he studied with Philippe Graffin and Svetlin Roussev. His musical journey began with Larissa Kolos. 

He was supported by the Royal Academy of Music, Adami, and Fondation de la Vocation. He plays a magnificent Deconet violin from 1754, from the Guttman Collection.

Violinist Youjin Lee is making a name for herself as an artist with a deep sense of musical purpose and notable virtuosity. She has been a prize winner at some of the world's most prestigious competitions. When she was 17 years old, she won first prize in both the Stulberg International String Competition and the Irving M. Klein International String Competition.

More recently she was awarded 1st Prize and Audience Prize at the Washington International String Competition in USA, 2nd Prize at the Seoul International Violin Competition in Korea, 2nd Prize at the Munetsugu International Violin Competition in Japan, and Prize winner at the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition in Germany. Lee's recent solo performances include her recital debut in Hungary, Germany, Tokyo, and Nagoya, recitals across Korea and her Bulgarian debut appearing with the Sofia Philharmonic under Maestro Maxim Eshkenazy.

She has appeared as a guest soloist with the Central Aich Symphony Orchestra in Japan; the NDR Philharmonie Orchestra with Andrew Manze; Baltimore and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra.

Ms. Lee is playing Michael Angelo Bergonzi "Ex Mintz" 1764 from a generous loan from Munetsugu Violin Collection from Japan.