Cooper International Competition Announces 2025 Participants

Nineteen young violinists will compete for a range of prizes and concert opportunities from January 5–10, 2025 

The annual Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition features alternating editions for young pianists and violinists. Its upcoming edition for violin from January 5–10, will be held on the campus of Ohio’s Oberlin College and Conservatory. 

The competition’s public rounds from January 6 will take place in Oberlin Conservatory’s Warner Concert Hall.

All rounds will stream live here on The Violin Channel. 

The 2025 Cooper Competition violin participants are:

• Rosie Chang, 15, Taichung City | Taiwan
• Emily Chen, 16, Arlington Heights, IL | U.S.A.
• Neal Eisfeldt, 15, Lake Zurich, IL | U.S.A.
• Madeline Goh, 17 | Singapore
• Gayun Kim, 17, Seoul | Korea
• Hyun Seo Kim, 15, Guri | Korea  
• Sooeon Kim, 17, Seoul | Korea
• Athanasios Kyparos, 17, Thessaloniki | Greece
• Min Seul Lee, 17, Seoul | Korea
• Roa Lee, 14, Seoul | Korea
• Tiantian Lu, 15, Ningbo | China
• Ma Panxi, 14, Beijing | China
• Daniel Qi, 17, Wilmington, DE | U.S.A.
• Emrik Revermann, 16, Toronto | Canada
• Edna Unseld, 13, Zurich | Switzerland
• Xiaozhuo (Julia) Wang, 17, Nanjing | China
• Jinan Laurentia Woo, 17, Englewood Cliffs, NJ | U.S.A.
• Qingyuan Yang, 14, Beijing | China
• Lauren Yoon, 16, Tenafly, NJ | U.S.A.

First prize is valued at $20,000; second prize is $10,000; and third prize will be $5,000. The fourth, fifth, and sixth prize winners will be awarded $1,500 each, and the recipient of the Audience Prize will receive $500. 

In partnership with MKI Artists, the 2025 first prize winner will also receive career mentorship and experience working with an agency during the next two concert seasons. The first prize winner will further gain a two-year loan of a fine violin from Jonathan Solars Fine Violins. 

Additionally, the top three finalists will be awarded full four-year tuition scholarships to Oberlin Conservatory, if granted a successful application. 

The final round will see six young violinists perform with the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra and conductor Norman Huynh on January 10 in Oberlin College’s Finney Chapel. 

Chaired by Sibbi Bernhardsson, the 2025 jury will comprise Catherine Cho, Francesca dePasquale, Peter Herresthal, Xie Nan, and William van der Sloot.

Past violin winners of the Cooper Competition include Seohyun Kim, Eric Charles Chen, VC Young Artist Johan Dalene, Gallia Kastner, and Belle Ting.