New York’s 2024 Barbash Bach String Competition Announces Second Prize Winner

Isabelle Durrenberger won second place, as the jurors elected not to select a  first place winner

The 2024 Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach String Competition, which focuses entirely on the unaccompanied string Partitas, Sonatas, and Suites of J.S. Bach, has come to a close. The Finals were held at Stony Brook University’s Staller Center Recital Hall and are now available for playback here on The Violin Channel.

The jury comprised violinists Ingrid Matthews and Soovin Kim; violist Katherine Murdock; cellist Colin Carr; and harpsichordist Arthur Haas.

Open to international string players 16 to 30 years of age, the competition awarded second prize and $1,000 to violinist Isabelle Durrenberger. No first prize was given.

Isabelle is a 2023-25 fellow of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect program. The upcoming season will see her perform with the Boston Chamber Music Society, Jupiter Chamber Players, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, The Knights, and the GRAMMY-nominated ensemble A Far Cry.

A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music — where she was mentored by Jaime Laredo for seven years — her other mentors and influences include Jennifer Koh, Sharon Robinson, Joan Kwuon, Jinjoo Cho, Jan Mark Sloman, and Jun Kim.

In 2022, she completed her graduate studies at the New England Conservatory in Boston with Soovin Kim and Don Weilerstein. Isabelle spent recent summers making chamber music at the Marlboro Music Festival, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, and Four Seasons Spring Workshop.

Isabelle currently serves on the violin faculty at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School in Boston where she teaches violin lessons and coaches chamber music.