Twenty-four 13-18 year old violinists arrived in Oberlin on Thursday, August 11 to compete in the first Cooper International Violin Competition at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Semifinal rounds on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, August 13-15 will reduce the field to ten players for the Concerto Round on Tuesday, August 16, and six players will be selected for the Recital Finals Round on August 17 at 7. Three finalists will perform with The Cleveland Orchestra under Jahja Ling in Severance Hall on Friday, August 18 at 8. The August 17 and 18 events will be broadcast live over WCLV, 104.9 FM.
ClevelandClassical interviewed the four families pictured above. Read the article here. We will begin our coverage with the Concerto Round on August 16.
The competitors (in alphabetical order):
Ms. Jennifer Cha (15, South Kores) Teacher: Desiree Ruhstrat
Ms. Ania Filochowsk (17, Poland) Teacher: Aaron Rosand
Mr. Brandon Garbot (17, Portland, OR) Teacher: William Preucil
Ms. Gergana Haralampieva (17, Bulgaria) Teacher: Paul Biss
Ms. Sirena Huang (17, South Korea) Teachers: Stephen Clapp, Sylvia Rosenberg
Ms. Alice Ivy-Pemberton (14, New York, NY) Teacher: Nurit Pacht
Ms. Mayumi Kanagawa (16, Japan) Teacher: Robert Lipsett
Ms. Gallia Kastner (14, Arlington Heights, IL) Teachers: Almita and Ronald Vamos
Mr. Zhu Ke (17, China) Teacher: Tong Weidong
Mr. Stephen Kim (15, Cupertino, CA) Teacher: Bettina Mussumeli
Ms. Youjin Lee (16, Los Angeles, CA) Teacher: Danielle Belen
Mr. Ryan Murphy (19, Park Ridge, IL) Teachers: Paul Biss, Miriam Fried
Mr. Chansik Park (15, South Korea) Teacher: Isadora Schwarzberg
Ms. Laura Park, (17, Des Plaines, IL) Teachers: Almita and Ronald Vamos, Marko Dreher
Ms. Marie Rossano (17, Bellevue, WA) Teacher: Simon James
Mr. Zachary Spontak (18, Fairbanks, AK) Teachers: Almita and Ronald Vamos
Ms. Alexandra Switala (17, Grapevine, TX ) Teachers: Almita and Ronald Vamos
Ms. Kelly Talim (15, Japan) Mr. Cyrus Forough
Mr. Jieming Tang (13, China) Teacher: Paul Kantor
Mr. Qui Tian (17, China) Teacher: Zhao Wei
Mr. Eric Tsai (14, Birmingham, AL) TeacherJeffery Z. Flaniken
Ms. Agnes Wun-ching Tse (14, China) Teacher: Beedarn Chao
Ms. Madeleine Vaillancourt (16, Setauket, NY) Teacher: Nurit Pacht
Ms. Hee-Soo Yoon, (16, Canada), Teacher: Lawrie Hill
