Six 1st Prizes Awarded at New York Young Concert Artists Auditions

Six 1st prizes have been awarded, just minutes ago, at the 2015 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, in New York - including the Indiana University-based Zora String Quartet.

The 2015 1st prize winners are:

• Zora String Quartet (Violinists Dechopol Kowintaweewait & Seula Lee, violist Pablo Munoz Salido and cellist Zizai Ning)
• 22 year old pianist Remi Geniet from France
• 25 year old oboist Olivier Stankiewicz from France
• 26 year old pianist Dasol Kim from South Korea
• 25 year old baritone Samuel Hasselhorn from Germany
• 25 year old pianist Tomer Gewirtzman from Israel

All six winners will be invited to join the Young Concert Artists’ roster – granting access to a minimum of 3 years management services, career engagements, publicity and career guidance – plus coveted recital debuts at Merkin Concert Hall in New York, the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

The Young Concert Artists International Auditions differ from a competition, as there are no rankings, and any number of winners can be selected – with each candidate competing against a standard of excellence, not each other.

Previous Young Concert Artists alumni include: Pinchas Zukerman, Ida Kavafian, Emanuel Ax and Murray Perahia – and VC ‘Young Artists’ Paul Huang, Bella Hristova, Benjamin Beilman, Ray Chen, Stephen Waarts, Soo-Been Lee and Hahn-Bin.

This year’s jury comprised Susan Wadsworth (chair), violinists Lynn Chang, Koichiro Harada and Scott Nickrenz, oboist Elaine Douvas, cellist Fred Sherry, pianists Jeffrey Swann, Ilana Vered and Hung-Kuan Chen, conductor James Sinclair and vocalists Marvis Martin and Neal Goren.

PICTURED: 2015 Young Concert Artists 1st Prize Winners Zora String Quartet