The Winners and Grinners — 2020 International Prize Winners [CONGRATS]

As the 2020 year winds to an end, we take a look back at the year’s major international competition prize winners and bursary recipients

Congratulations to the following winners:

Clarinetist Anthony McGill was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize.

VC Artist cellist Zlatomir Fung, VC Artist violinist Stella Chen and Baroque Violinist Rachell Ellen Wong were awarded Avery Fisher Career Grants.

Composer John Williams was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal.

VC Artist Brannon Cho received the 2020 Starker Foundation Award.

American cellist Gabriel Martins was awarded first prize in the Senior Division of the 2020 Sphinx Competition.

 

GABRIEL MARTINS | ELGAR CELLO CONCERTO IN E MINOR | 4TH MVT | RODERICK COX & SPHINX SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | 2020 SPHINX COMPETITION | 1ST PRIZE | 21-YEARS-OLD

 

German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter was awarded the prestigious 2020 Baden-Württemberg Culture Prize.

British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason was presented as a Member of the British Empire Award.

Composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen was awarded an Honorary British Knighthood.

Conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin was awarded the Betty Webster Award.

VC Artist Timothy Ridout was announced as 1 of 4 recipients of a prestigious 2020 Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship.

VC Artist Brannon Cho was awarded a prestigious scholarship to the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation.

Violinist Lara St. John was named to the Order of Canada.

VC Artist Timothy Ridout was awarded the 2020 inaugural "Jeffrey Tate" Memorial Prize.

Violinist Dongyoung Jake Shim was awarded first prize at the 2020 Stulberg International String Competition.

 

DONGYOUNG JAKE SHIM | BACH | VIOLIN SONATA NO. 3 IN C MAJOR | ADAGIO | 2020 STULBERG INTERNATIONAL STRING COMPETITION | 1ST PRIZE

 

German violist Tabea Zimmermann was awarded the 2020 International Ernst von Siemens Music Prize.

Cellist Maxime Quennesson was awarded first prize at the 2020 Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition.

 

MAXIME QUENNESSON | BACH | CELLO SUITE NO. 5 IN C MINOR | 2020 LILLIAN AND MAURICE BARBASH J.S. BACH COMPETITION

 

Conductor Aram Demirjian was awarded the prestigious 2020 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award.

Violinist VC Young Artist Nathan Meltzer, violinist VC Young Artist Moné Hattori, violinists VC Rising Star Hina Khuong-Huu and Fiona Khuong-Huu, cellist Alexander Hersh, flutist Sooah Jeon, pianist Albert Cano Smit, pianist Rémi Geniet, and composer and multi-instrumentalist Zac Zinger were awarded 2020 Salon de Virtuosi Career Grants.

 

SALON DE VIRTUOSI GALA AWARDS CONCERT

 

The Delta Piano Trio was the winner of the Dutch Chamber Music Award.

Esme Arias-Kim was awarded first prize in the Junior Division of the 2020 Sphinx Competition.

 

ESME ARIAS-KIM | MOZART | VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 4 IN D MAJOR | CARLOS ANDRES BOTERO & SPHINX HONORS ORCHESTRA | 2020 SPHINX COMPETITION | 1ST PRIZE

 

Jérémy Garbarg from France was awarded first prize at the Belgium Society Cello Competition.

VC Young Artist Diana Adamyan was awarded first prize at the 2020 Khachaturian International Violin Competition.

 

VC YOUNG ARTIST DIANA ADAMYAN | KHACHATURIAN VIOLIN CONCERTO IN D MINOR | 3RD MVT | SERGEY SMBATYAN & ARMENIAN STATE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA | 2020 KHACHATURIAN INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION

 

American cellist Gabriel Martins has been awarded first prize at the 2020 Schadt Cello Competition.

Julian Rhee from the United States was awarded first prize at the 2020 Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition.

 

JULIAN RHEE | SAINT-SAËNS | VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 3 IN B MINOR | 3RD MVT | JOHN ROBERTSON & LYNN PHILHARMONIA | 2020 ELMAR OLIVEIRA INTERNATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION | 1ST PRIZE

 

Leonard Fu was awarded first prize at the 2020 Ton & Erklärung International Violin Competition.

Clarissa Bevilacqua from Italy was awarded first prize at the 2020 Mozart International Violin Competition.

The Austrian-based Adelphi Quartet was awarded first prize at the 2020 Irene Steels-Wilsing Foundation String Quartet Competition.

Konstanze Pietschmann from Denmark was awarded first prize in the senior division at the inaugural 2020 Anna Kull International Cello Competition.

Russian soprano Anna Netrebko was awarded the 2020 Swedish Polar Music Prize.

Violinists Yuna Ha and Alexandra Weissbecker was awarded joint first prize at the Rubinstein International Violin Competition.

Coraline Groen was awarded first prize at the Netherlands Violin Competition.

American Composer Anthony Davis was awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his opera "The Central Park Five."

The Balourdet Quartet was awarded first prize in the Senior Strings Division at the 47th Annual Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

 

BALOURDET QUARTET | BEETHOVEN | STRING QUARTET OP. 18 NO. 1 | FISCHOFF NATIONAL CHAMBER MUSIC COMPETITION

 

Violinist Harry Ward and the Melbourne-based Partridge String Quartet received the 2020 Musica Viva Australia "FutureMakers" Leadership Initiative.

Recorder player Tabea Debus was the recipient of the Concert Artists Guild 2020 Award for Innovation in Classical Music.

Violinist Gabrielle Despres was awarded first prize at the 2020 Klein International String Competition.

British conductor Finnegan Downie Dear was awarded first prize at the 2020 Mahler International Conducting Competition.

Chitoyo Shinozaki and Miu Hirokawa were awarded joint first prize in the "9 years and younger" category at the 2020 Leonid Kogan International Competition for Young Violinists.

Léo Couralet was awarded first prize in the "10 to 13 year old" category at the 2020 Leonid Kogan International Competition for Young Violinists.

Violinists Johannes Dickbauer and Youenn Rohaut were awarded joint first prize at the 2020 Zbigniew Seifert Jazz Violin Competition.

Composer Carlos Simon, conductor Lina González-Granados, and oboist Titus Underwood were awarded the 2021 Sphinx Organization "Medals of Excellence."

American composer Katherine Balch was awarded the 2020 Prix ​​de Rome in the Music Composition category.

Violinist Sydney Adedamola and violist Jarrett Threadgill received the Los Angeles Philharmonic's 2020 Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen Resident Fellowship.

Australian cellist Richard Narroway was awarded Australia's 2020 Freedman Classical Fellowship.

Adam Koch Christensen was awarded first prize at the 27th International Johannes Brahms Violin Competition.

Ettore Pagano was awarded first prize at the 27th International Johannes Brahms Cello Competition.

Takehiro Konoe was awarded first prize at the 27th International Johannes Brahms Viola Competition.

Karen Su was awarded first prize at the Lipizer International Violin Competition.

Conductor Tianyi Lu was awarded first prize at the Premio Internazionale d’Orchestra Guido Cantelli.

Violist Wilfred Farquharson, hornist Malik Taylor, cellist Myles Yeazell, and violist Jay Julio Laureta received the 2020 Los Angeles Orchestra Fellowship.

Yeo Ryeong Ahn, Christine Brandes, Michelle Di Russo, Barbara Dragan, Chelsea Gallo, Elinor Rufeizen, and Susannah Wapshott were all announced as the Dallas Opera's Conducting Fellows for the 2021 Dallas Opera Hart Institute.

Issei Kurihara from Japan was awarded first prize at the 2020 Tadeusz Wroński Solo Violin Competition.

Giuseppe Gibboni from Italy and Selma Spahiu from Sweden/Albania were awarded joint first prize at the Valsesia International Violin Competition.

Jukka Tiensuu was awarded the 2020 Wihuri Sibelius Prize, an award given to prominent composers who are internationally known and recognized.

Australian violinist Harry Ward was awarded as the winner of the 2021/2022 Karajan Academy place.

American soprano Brianna Robinson was awarded first prize at the 6th annual 2020 "Getting to Carnegie" Competition.

The Baum Quartet was awarded first prize in the String Quartet division at the 2020 Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University Music Competition.

French-Dutch violist Sào Soulez Larivière was awarded the Fanny Mendelssohn Advancement Award.

Nicholas Algot Swensen from Denmark was awarded first prize at the 2020 Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition.

Lora Markova from Bulgaria and Jaime Naya from Spain were awarded first prizes in the senior categories of the 2020 Leonid Kogan International Competition for Young Violinists.

Barbara Żołnierczyk was awarded first prize at the 10th Polish National Violin Competition Zdzisław Jahnke.

 

BARBARA ŻOŁNIERCZYK & HANNA HOLESKA | DVORAK | VIOLIN CONCERTO IN A MINOR | 10TH POLISH NATIONAL VIOLIN COMPETITION ZDZISŁAW JAHNKE

 

South Korean conductor, June-Sung Park, was awarded first prize at the inaugural Arthur Nikisch Conducting Competition.

Mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton, Soprano Julia Bullock, and Producer Beth Morrison were announced as Musical America's 2021 Artists of the Year.

Xuanhan Xu from China was awarded first prize at the 2020 Pablo Casals International Award for Young Cellists.

The Riot Ensemble and the Synaesthesis Ensemble received the Siemens Ensemble Prize.

Violinist Eleanor Corr was awarded first prize at the Royal Overseas Music Competition.

Scoring for Equity in Opera, the Institute for Composer Diversity Expansion and Community Impact Initiative, Celebrate Diversity in String Music, and Rising Sun Recordings were announced as the recipients of the 2021 Sphinx Venture Fund.

Baroque violinist and conductor Michi Gaigg was awarded the City of Linz Art Appreciation Prize.

The European Union Youth Orchestra was awarded the 15th European Cultural Brand Award Cultural Marketing Prize.

Cellist William Bruce was awarded the 2020 European String Teachers Association Award.