Carl Flesch Academy Announces 2024 Participants 

After a rigorous selection process, 30 young string players have been selected for this year’s program 

Since its launching in 1981 alongside the Baden-Baden Philharmonic and its general music director Werner Stiefel, the annual Carl Flesch Academy has gathered over 3,000 top international emerging artists in workshops with renowned pedagogues.

This year’s academy will take place from July 7 to 14, 2024, at the Lichtenthal Abbey, Baden-Baden, and will be offering €10,000 in scholarships to select participants during the first few days of the Academy.

The academy attracted a record number of applicants for its 2024 edition from over 50 countries worldwide. Of these, 30 participants have now been announced:

Violin: 

• Lewin Creuz (21, Germany)
• Marley Erickson (21, Hungary) 
• Marie Helling (18, Germany) 
• Dániel Hodos (19, Hungary)
• Liepa Jurgutavičiūtė (17, Lithuania)
• Jelin Lee (26, South Korea)
• Youjin Lee (28, Österreich)
• Sara Schlumberger-Ruiz (22, Germany)
• YoEun Seol (12, South Korea)
• Sean Takada (23, USA) 
• Grégoire Torossian (23, France)
• Lauren Yoon (16, USA)
• Eun Che Kim (26, Germany, and winner of the Carl Flesch Competition in Hungary)

Viola: 

• Felicitas Frücht (22, Germany)
• Joelle Hsu (23, Singapore)
• Elena Küssner (22, Germany)
• Eva Lacárcel Gómez (17, Spain)
• Kevin O'Loughlin (21, Ireland)
• U Chon Wong, (26, Macau/China).

Cello: 

• Amelia Zofia Chmielewska (20, Poland)
• Nagyeom Jang (23, USA)
• Jinseok Jeong (18, Hungary)
• Heddi Raz Shahar (22, Germany)
• Lynn Renouil-Hata (16, France) 
• Yi-I Stephanie Yang (23, Taiwan)

Double bass: 

• Mikhail Aharodnikau (23, Germany)
• Zipeng Dou (21, China)
• Harald Edin (20, Sweden)
• Junha Moon (19, South Korea)
• Shun Nawa (31, Japan)
•  Ariane Thomann (20, Switzerland)

The Academy masterclasses will be hosted as four single-day lessons of 45 minutes for each participant across July 7–10. The chamber music initiatives will include a public concert on July 13, led by Saule Tatubaeva.

Additionally, prizes will also include career development opportunities, grants, plus instrument strings and cases.

Teachers for the program’s masterclasses include the academy's artistic director, violinist Kirill Troussov, violinist Boris Kuschnir, violist Máté Szücs, cellist Kian Soltani, and double bassist Janne Saksala. The associate artists for these sessions are pianists Peter Wittenberg, Henri Bonamy, and Zsuzsa Bálint.

Three select students will also have the opportunity of a public performance with the Baden-Baden Philharmonic, conducted by the principal conductor Heiko Mathias Förster. All other masterclass participants will have the chance to perform non-publicly with the Baden-Baden Philharmonic for 20 minutes.

On July 14, the second Symphonic Concert for the Academy’s solo players with Baden-Baden Philharmonic will be held, followed by the Award Ceremony Gala to close out this year’s edition.