Japan’s Sendai International Music Competition Announces Violin & Piano Participants

The 2025 edition, to be held in May and June, will host violinists and pianists aged 30 and under

Held triennially, the 2025 Sendai International Music Competition (SIMC) will celebrate its ninth edition for violinists and pianists. The competition is open to candidates of all nationalities born on or after January 1, 1995.

The violin edition will be held from May 24 to June 8, 2025; the piano edition will follow from June 14 to June 29, 2025.

First prize with the Gold Medal will receive a cash prize of JPY 3,000,000; second prize is valued at JPY 2,000,000; and third prize will receive JPY 1,000,000.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth prizes will receive JPY 800,000, JPY 700,000, and JPY 600,000, respectively. All winners will also receive a diploma.

The Violin Participants include:

• Sameer Agrawal
• Leon Blekh
• Zachary Brandon
• Cao Jiachen
• Eric Chen
• Karisa Chiu
• Vilmos Csikos
• Huali Dang
• Gina Keiko Friesicke
• Yanis Grisó
• Fiona Kisara Iyoku
• Yeyeong Jin
• Julia Jones
• Mei Kaneko
• Haram Kim
• Hyeonji Kim
• Donghwi Ko
• Jiyoon Lee
• Hairui Lei
• Jinzhu Li
• Tianyou Liu
• Zi Yang Low
• Momo Matoba
• Shotaro Matsuki
• Leanne McGowan
• Boha Moon
• Michael Nodel
• Mako Ochiai
• Seohyeon Park
• Wonmin Park
• Aoi Saito
• Vikram Francesco Sedona
• Jake Dongyoung Shim
• Emmanuelle Sievers
• Eric Tsai
• Julian Walder
• Dandan Jingfei Wang
• Xiyue Wu
• Haewon Yoon
• Rino Yoshimoto
• Aozhe Zhang

The 2025 violin jury will comprise Horigome Yuzuko, Hori Masafumi, Young-Uck Kim, Boris Belkin, Friedemann Eichhorn, Jaime Laredo, Cho-Liang Lin, Mihaela Martin, Liviu Prunaru, Terakado Ryo, and Yonemoto Kyoko.

The piano participants include:

• Kaoru Amano
• Jinwoo Bae
• Claudio Berra
• Yangrui Cai
• Elia Cecino
• David Choi
• Isak Choi
• Yeonsoo Do
• Zhengyang Fan
• Julian Gast
• Yungyung Guo
• Joshua Han
• Roberto Iliev
• Dongju Kim
• Jiyoung Kim
• Saehyun Kim
• Yonghee Kim
• Shuta Kimoto
• Ryunosuke Kishimoto
• Aleksandr Kliuchko
• Rafael Kyrychenko
• Shingho Lau
• Saebeom Lee
• Taekgi Lee
• Tianyou Li
• Zhiye Lin
• Jie Luo
• Fuyuka Morinaga
• Jan Nikovich
• Takuma Onodera
• Modan Oyama
• Jacob Rockower
• Joonhyun Ryu
• Kazusa Sagawa
• Zeyu Shen
• Riito Shimata
• Hyojin Shin
• Youngho Shin
• Youl Sun
• Rikako Tsujimoto
• Chunlam U
• Elizaveta Ukrainskaia
• Deren Wang
• Zhiqiao Zhang

The piano jury will comprise Nodaira Ichiro, Ebi Akiko, Jacques Rouvier, Josep Colom, Dang Thai Son, Kevin Kenner, Vadym Kholodenko, Kim Daejin, Matthias Kirschnereiy, Neriki Shigeo, and Rena Shereshevskaya.

Presented by the Sendai International Music Competition Organizing Committee, City of Sendai, and Sendai Cultural Foundation, previous first prize winners include Alena Baeva, Clara Jumi Kang, and VC Artists Richard Lin and Yoojin Jang.