Tokyo International Viola Competition Announces 2025 Winners

Chinese violist Yixiu Lin won first prize and JPY1,000,000

Held every three years since 2009, the 6th Tokyo International Viola Competition recently came to a close at the Toho Gakuen School of Music and Nippon Steel Kioi Hall.

Chaired by Ryo Sasaki, the jury comprised Masao Kawasaki, Máté Szücs, Hsin-Yun Huang, Sangjin Kim, Lars Anders Tomter, and Dimitri Murrath. The honorary presidents of the jury were Antoine Tamestit and Nobuko Imai, who founded the competition in 1992.

The 2025 prizes are as follows:

• First Prize: Yixiu Lin of China
• Second Prize: Hiroki Kasai of Japan
• VC Artist Emad Zolfaghari of Canada

These three violists will receive performance opportunities, including at the Halle Runde, Nagoya, at the Prizewinners’ Concerts at Tokyo, Osaka, and Sendai following the competition, and appearances at Viola Space in or after 2026.

Lin also received the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra Prize, consisting of an opportunity to perform as a soloist with the ensemble after 2026. Kasai received the Audience Prize of JPY100,000 (£500), while Zolfaghari received the Encouragement Prize, comprising a high-quality carbon-fibre bow donated by Nakazen Music, Aichi.

Shiori Wada received the Suntory Foundation Arts Prize for Best Interpretation of a Japanese composition, plus the Hindemith Prize, which comes with a carbon-fibre bow donated by Nakazen Music, Aichi.