Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition Announces 12 Semi-Finalists

Shanghai, China, August 14, 2018 - After a grueling Quarter-Final round that had some dubbing the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition (SISIVC) the "most difficult competition in the world," organisers today announced the 12 competitors who will move on and compete in the Semi-Final rounds.

2018 SISIVC Semi-Finalists:

• Yurina Arai, Japan (age 24)
• Jia Yi Chen, China (age 22)
• Yige Chen, China (age 18)
• Quanshuai Li, China (age 27)
• Arsenis Selalmazidis, Greece (age 28)
• Olga Šroubková, Czech Republic (age 25)
• Sophia Su, United States (age 17)
• Yun Tang, China (age 26)
• Chang Yuan Ting, Canada (age 18)
• Diana Tishchenko, Ukraine (age 28)
• Alex Zhou, United States (age 17)
• Nancy Zhou, United States (age 25)

World-Class Competitors Navigated Complex Repertoire

The 12 chosen Semi-Finalists (7 women/5 men) hail from 7 countries and range in age from 17 to 28. In the Quarter-Final Round, 27 violinists performed a Mozart Sonata, Bach Sonata for solo violin, Ysaÿe Sonata for solo violin, and two Paganini Caprices. On the difficulty of these pieces, 2018 Jury Co-Chair Vera Tsu Weiling stated, "the heavy repertoire for the Quarter-Final was not only a challenge to participants' physical strength and essential technique, but also required their proficiency in music styles at different times and tested all musical aspects comprehensively from mastery of technique to musical interpretation and stage control."

Ming'en Zhou, an Associate Professor at Shanghai School of Music High School and Director of the String Department, commented after watching the competition for the past days, "every participant comes to show the best of themselves, which fully reflects how much they value the competition. What's more, I see more and more young Chinese violinists entering international stages through the platform of this competition, which makes me very happy." At the same time, music critic Yanhuan Li also expressed that, "one can tell the extraordinary strength of all participants from only the first day of such a difficult competition. Many of them are already young musicians with their own unique personality."

Semi-Finals to Test Competitors' Collaborative and Creative Skills

The Semi-Final Round includes even more diversified repertoire and consists of three sections - the string quartet in which each contestant will perform with Yi-Wen Jiang, Honggang Li, and Nicholas Tzavaras from the Shanghai Quartet; one sonata and one Kreisler work in which each contestant will perform with invited young collaborative pianists Zhen Chen, Yingjia Xue, and Qiuning Huang; and a Mozart concerto with an originally-composed cadenza.

Semi-Final Schedule

18 August: String Quartet Section

· Session 1 (6 violinists): 10:00am Shanghai time (8/17 10:00pm EST)

· Session 2 (6 violinists): 1:00pm Shanghai time (8/18 1:00am EST)

19 August: Sonata and Kreisler Piece

· Session 3 (2 violinists): 10:00am Shanghai time (8/18 10:00pm EST)

· Session 4 (2 violinists): 1:00pm Shanghai time (8/19 1:00am EST)

· Session 5 (2 violinists): 3:00pm Shanghai time (8/19 3:00am EST)

20 August: Sonata and Kreisler Piece

· Session 6 (2 violinists): 10:00am Shanghai time (8/19 10:00pm EST)

· Session 7 (2 violinists): 1:00pm Shanghai time (8/20 1:00am EST)

· Session 8 (2 violinists): 3:00pm Shanghai time (8/20 3:00am EST)

23 August: Mozart Concerto

· Session 9 (2 violinists): 10:00am Shanghai time (8/22 10:00pm EST)

· Session 10 (2 violinists): 1:30pm Shanghai time (8/23 1:30am EST)

· Session 11 (2 violinists): 4:30pm Shanghai time (8/23 4:30am EST)

24 August: Mozart Concerto

· Session 12 (2 violinists): 10:00am Shanghai time (8/23 10:00pm EST)

· Session 13 (2 violinists): 1:30pm Shanghai time (8/24 1:30am EST)

· Session 14 (2 violinists): 4:30pm Shanghai time (8/24 4:30am EST)

For more information about the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition (SISIVC), please visit: shcompetition.com/en

Watch all sessions live at the SISIVC Facebook page: facebook.com/shcompetition