Sirena Huang wins prestigious global violin competition based in Indianapolis
One of the world's biggest competitions for the violin has a new winner. Sirena Huang has taken the gold medal at the 11th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.
The prize is worth more than $350,000, and it includes $75,000 cash, a recital debut at Carnegie Hall, recording contract, and website development and maintenance for four years. All together, it propels the winner's career in the highly competitive field of violin soloists.
Huang delivered a wide palate of emotional range Saturday at Hilbert Circle Theatre, which especially came through in her bow technique as she performed Antonín Dvo?ák's Violin Concerto in A minor. Through passionate long strokes, crisp staccatos and expressions in between, she had a supreme ease on stage with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
Julian Rhee won the silver medal and Minami Yoshida took bronze. Claire Wells, SooBeen Lee and Joshua Brown are in fourth, fifth and sixth places, respectively. The placement of the six laureates was announced late Saturday after the final concert at Hilbert Circle Theatre.
The laureates also have the option to use one of the competition's four fine instruments: a 1683 Stradivari that belonged to competition founder Josef Gingold; one made by Sam Zygmuntowicz, who's known for crafting instruments for renowned performers including Joshua Bell; a violin by Philip Ihle of London; and one by Paul Crowley, who's based in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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The competition debuted in 1982 and has occurred every four years in Indianapolis. In 2018, Richard Lin won the gold medal. This year, 39 violinists between the ages of 17 and 29 began the competition's preliminaries before 16 advanced to the semifinals. The six laureates went on to the finals, which started Wednesday.
The nine jury members for the competition include Jaime Laredo, the competition's jury president and artistic director; Noah Bendix-Balgley; Ivan Chan; Pamela Frank; Yuzuko Horigome; Dong-Suk Kang; Cho-Liang Lin; Mihaela Martin; and Liviu Prunaru. The laureates' scores were based on a culmination of the competition's preliminaries, semifinals, classical finals and finals that took place between Sept. 11 and 24.
Here's more on the the laureates, including observations from two nights of concerts that IndyStar attended.
Gold medal: Sirena Huang, 28, United States
Huang has performed with the New York Philharmonic and Cleveland Orchestra, among others. She also has myriad awards to her name, including first prize at the Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition, gold medal at the 6th International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians and top prize at the Singapore International Violin Competition. Her teachers have included Itzhak Perlman.
Silver medal: Julian Rhee, 22, United States
Rhee showed immediate chemistry with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra and traded phrases seamlessly with them when he performed Wednesday at the Schrott Center for the Arts at Butler University. His natural charisma and energy were especially evident F. Kreisler's "La Gitana."
That's not a surprise, given his background in chamber music. He and his string quartet — which included Joshua Brown — won first prize in the junior division of the 2018 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, among several other awards.
Rhee himself won first prize at the Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition and Astral National Auditions. He has performed around the world, including making his Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra debut at age 8. He currently studies with Miriam Fried.
Bronze medal: Minami Yoshida, 24, Japan
Yoshida was in a tough position Wednesday — she was the third to play W.A. Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra that night at the Schrott Center. But she quickly captured the audience with a heartfelt performance that poured in passion without snapping the composer's often vapor-like melodies.
Among her awards are third prize at the 2016 Montréal International Musical Competition and Laureate at the 2021 Joseph Joachim International Competition. She has studied with Kyoko Takezawa, Miriam Fried and Koichiro Harada and is currently at the New England Conservatory.
Fourth place: Claire Wells, 21, United States
The first movement of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor calls for unrelenting expressiveness in the instrument’s lower range, and Wells delivered a clear and commanding performance with the the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra on Saturday at Hilbert Circle Theatre. Several broken bow hairs were casualties in service of maintaining this sound throughout the piece.
Wells has performed with orchestras in the U.S., Europe, Mexico and China. She has won first prize and the Commission Prize at the Mendelssohn Bartholdy Competition, along with first prize at the Lynn Harrell and Oregon Mozart Players competitions. She studies with Mihaela Martin and plays a plays a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini.
Fifth place: SooBeen Lee, 21, South Korea
On Saturday at Hilbert Circle Theatre, Lee drew out of her instrument the storms and lushness in Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D minor as smoothly as a knife glides through butter when she performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
Her awards include first prize at the 2013 Oistrakh Violin Competition and the 2014 Young Concert Artists Auditions. She currently studies with Miriam Fried and plays the Giuseppe Guadagnini Cremona 1794, which is on loan to her.
Sixth place: Joshua Brown, 22, United States
Brown's performances with orchestras in the U.S. and Europe have received accolades for their maturity and emotion. The violinist upheld his reputation once again Wednesday when he performed with the East Coast Chamber Orchestra at the Schrott Center. On W.A. Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, his sound was addictive and shimmering, with emotions like dynamic colors that shifted beneath a clear, glassy surface.
He's currently studying with Donald Weilerstein and working on a master’s degree at New England Conservatory. Previous competition prizes include including First Prize and Audience Award at the 2019 International Violin Competition of Leopold Mozart. He performs on a a 1679 Pietro Guarneri that's on loan to him.
To see the full programs each laureate performed, visit violin.org.
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Contact IndyStar reporter Domenica Bongiovanni at 317-444-7339 or [email protected]. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter: @domenicareports.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: International Violin Competition of Indianapolis 2022 announces winner
