List of participants 2025 

Oleksandr Ahafonov was born in 2002 in Kharkiv, Ukraine and started playing the violin at the age of five. In 2019 he graduated Kharkiv State Music Lyceum (Ukraine) in the class of Lyudmila Varenina. During high school he won several prizes at national and international competitions and participated many times in music festivals in Ukraine...

Natalie Brennecke is a violist currently pursuing her Masters at The Juilliard School under the guidance of Heidi Castleman and Hsin-Yun Huang. She received her Bachelors from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2024, where she studied with Jeffrey Irvine...

Loan Cazal, is a French violist. He studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. In 2014, he was chosen as a viola soloist for the Yuri Bashmet Youth Orchestra, performing at Vienna's Musikverein. ....

Jutta Demuynck was born in Leuven (Belgium) in 2004. She started playing the viola at the age of 8 at the music school in Aarschot with Manon Vervaet. From 2021 she continues her studies with Julia Dinerstein, first upon joining young talent class at Conservatorium Maastricht...

Tamara Durand is a 21 year-old violist. She began playing the viola at the age of 3 in her home town in the south of France. At the age of 16, she went to study at the Conservatoire Royal de Liège, in Belgium, in Pierre Henri Xuereb's class. She was then accepted at the Conservatoire National de Paris in 2022...

Ge Chang is a 21‑year‑old violist. She is currently pursuing her studies with Prof. Diyang Mei at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin. She previously studied at the Middle School of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing under the guidance of Prof. Zhen Su...

Sofia Gilchenok, musically described as “both stylish and entrancing” by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, began studying the viola at the age of 3 and is now a flourishing young artist. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the Juilliard School under the guidance of Misha Amory..

Born in 2010, violist Jaeyun Han began playing the viola at age 10 and quickly gained recognition for his exceptional musical talent. He won 2nd Prize (no 1st Prize awarded) at the Sungjung Competition in 2020 and 1st Prize at the Ewha-Kyunghyang Competition in 2021...

Jimin Jang is a South Korean violist known for her warm sound, solid technique, and deep musical passion.
She has been recognized as a semifinalist at the Max Rostal Competition and was awarded the Pirastro Prize for an Outstanding Young Talent at the Oskar Nedbal Viola Competition...

Yunji Jang, based in South Korea, is currently pursuing her master's degree at the Curtis Institute of Music where she studies with Hsin-Yun Huang and Misha Amory.
She was a prizewinner at the 28th Johannes Brahms International Competition...

Born in Seoul 2003, Junkyung Kang is a South Korean violist. He graduated from Seoul Arts High School and he moved to Germany to continue his musical studies at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin while enrolled at Seoul National University. ...

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Kirsten Kjær (b. 1999) is a violist currently studying in the soloist class at the Royal Danish Academy of Music with her string quartet, AKELA. In 2023, she was awarded the Carl Nielsen and Anne Marie Carl Nielsen Talent Prize, and in 2024 she received the Sonning Talent Prize along with AKELA....

Martta Kunnola (born 2005) is a Finnish viola student at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, studying in Nils Mönkemeyer’s class. Previously, she studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München, also with Mönkemeyer, and at the Sibelius Academy’s Youth Department under Annariina Jokela, Lilli Maijala, and Teemu Kupiainen...

Jason Sheng-Chieh Lan has rapidly established himself as a versatile and dynamic violist through his extensive performance experience and artistic depth. He holds the distinction of being the youngest violist in history to present a debut recital at Taiwan’s National Concert Hall, performing to a sold-out audience...

Currently she is a viola student at the Curtis Institute of Music and studying with Roberto Diaz, Edward Gazouleas and Hsin-yun Huang. She has gained a steadily growing reputation through her appearances in various national and international Competitions...

The Japanese violist An Maeyama is based in Kyoto as a member of the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra since April 2023.
An graduated from Kyoto City University of Arts as a top student...

Tabea Ockert, born in Leipzig in 2002, began her musical training at the age of five with Eva-Maria Mehling, studying violin. For several years, she was supported by the Free State of Saxony's program for gifted children. Playing in various orchestras awakened her interest in the viola with its dark, warm sound...

Korean violist Yeunwoo Park began her musical career as a violinist. She received her first violin lessons at the age of seven at Yewon Arts Middle School. In 2018, she was accepted into Seoul Music High School, but soon dropped out to move to Germany...

Gustavo Rebelo, born on the 21 st of Nov. 2001, started his studies at 8 years of age at the Calouste Gulbenkian Conservatory of Music, in Aveiro. He currently attends Prof. William Coleman’s class at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg (Austria). His studies are also frequently mentored by Prof. Ana Bela Chaves....

Korean violist Seoyeon Ryu recently awarded the first prize and the audience prize at the Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition, she also won the first prize at the Johansen International Competition (JIC) and was invited for the Morningside Music Bridge as an entity of JIC winner in the United States...

Ayaka Taniguchi is a Japanese violist currently studying with Prof. Tabea Zimmermann at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main.

As a soloist, she has performed a wide range of works, from Baroque to contemporary music, in various concerts and recitals...

The Chinese-born violist Yanan Wang received her first musical training from 2013 to 2018 at the High School of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing with Hai Cao. Her artistic journey took her to Europe in 2018. Yanan completed her bachelor's degree at the Mozarteum University Salzburg in the class of William Coleman...

Violinist and violist Miranda Werner is currently pursuing her M.M. at the Yale School of Music, where she is a student of Soovin Kim. Last spring she graduated with High Distinction and Music Honors from Indiana University, where she studied violin with Mark Kaplan and viola with Mark Holloway...

Yunqing Cao was born in China in 1999. In 2013, she was admitted to the High School Affiliated to the China Conservatory of Music (CCoM), where she studied with Professor Bai Ming. In 2017, she continued her studies at the China Conservatory of Music...

Jinglin Zhou, a 23-year-old violist, is currently pursuing master degree of music on a full scholarship at the Juilliard School in New York, under the mentorship of Carol Rodland and Samuel Rhodes. Born in 2002 in Hunan, China, Jinglin began his musical journey at the age of 10 with violin before transitioning to viola...

Xunyu Zhou is 17, she studied at the Affiliated Middle School of Shanghai Conservatory of Music with professor Liu Nian from 2017 to 2024. She began her Bachelor degree with professor Tabea Zimmermann at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main from 2024...