Watch the Shanghai Competition Winners' Concert: In Tribute to Isaac Stern’s Centennial

August 25, 2022, 4:38 PM · After two years of postponements due to COVID, the six violinists who are finalists in the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition (SISIVC) will bring the competition's Third Edition to a close this weekend when they each offer an online performance of two violin concertos. The performances, to be released over three days starting Friday, will be available on this page and on the competition's Youtube channel.

Altogether the performances are being called "In Tribute to Isaac Stern’s Centennial SISIVC Winners’ Concert."

BELOW: The first of three videos, queued to begin at 17:56 with a performance by violinist Rino Yoshimoto, 19, of Japan. The performance by Thomas Lefort, 28, of France begins at 1:14:32. The video begins with a tribute to the late violinist Isaac Stern (in Chinese with subtitles), then jury comments.

Rino Yoshimoto, 19, of Japan - 17:56
Mana Oguchi, piano
Henryk Wieniawski: Violin Concerto No.1 in F-sharp minor, Op.14
Zhou Tian: Violin Concerto Night Tour (Commissioned by SISIVC)

Thomas Lefort, 28, of France - 1:14:32
Vuong Thuy Anh, Piano
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35
Zhou Tian: Violin Concerto Night Tour (Commissioned by SISIVC)

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BELOW: The second of three videos, queued to begin at 18:18 with a performance by violinist Ruifeng Lin, 22, of China. The performance by Felicitas Schiffner, 25, of Germany begins at 1:09:46. The video begins with a tribute to the late violinist Isaac Stern (in Chinese with subtitles), then jury comments.

Ruifeng Lin, 22, of China - 18:18
Qiuning Huang, Piano
Henryk Wieniawski: Violin Concerto No.1 in F-sharp minor, Op.14
Zhou Tian: Violin Concerto Night Tour (Commissioned by SISIVC)

Felicitas Schiffner, 25, of Germany - 1:09:46
Elisha Kravitz, Piano
Johannes Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77
Zhou Tian: Violin Concerto Night Tour (Commissioned by SISIVC)

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BELOW: The third of three videos, queued to begin at 18:50 with a performance by violinist Angela Sin Ying Chan, 25, of Hong Kong. The performance by Shannon Lee, 30, of the United States begins at 1:26:35. The video begins with a tribute to the late violinist Isaac Stern (in Chinese with subtitles), then jury comments.

Angela Sin Ying Chan, 25, of Hong Kong, China - 18:50
John Lee, Piano
Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61
Zhou Tian: Violin Concerto Night Tour (Commissioned by SISIVC)

Shannon Lee, 30, of the United States - 1:26:35
Arseniy Gusev, Piano
Johannes Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77
Zhou Tian: Violin Concerto Night Tour (Commissioned by SISIVC)

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About Zhou Tian's Violin Concerto Night Tour:
From Zhou Tian: "Scored lushly and mostly tonally, there are hints of my musical lineage from Barber to Piston to traditional erhu (Chinese violin) music, as I sought a coexistence of clarity of form with passionate expression, exploring the richness of orchestral timbre yet always embracing purity of line."
The 23-minute works has three movements:
I. Vivo
II. Amoroso - "a late-night walk in a quiet city."
III. Con brio - "a virtuosic dance in perpetual motion"

The Shanghai competition's third edition was originally scheduled to take place in August 2020 in Shanghai, but it was postponed due to COVID. After a year's delay, the quarter-final and semi-final rounds were held virtually, in August 2021. This online "Winners Concert" series takes the place of the Final Round. The jury committee will not give scores for each performance but instead will provide detailed reactions to each candidate’s performance, acting as mentors rather than competition jury members. The six finalists will each receive a a scholarship of $20,000.

"I am very proud of the imaginative solution that the SISIVC has put in place in order to bring the 2020 competition to a just conclusion," said jury chairman David Stern. "The continuing difficulties connected to the pandemic have obligated us to invent an entirely new outcome. The six talented candidates who managed to make it to the finals already deserve credit for persevering during these difficult times. Offering these young people an equal amount of money as a scholarship and planning future concert appearances with China’s premier orchestras shows that the SISIVC is committed to supporting young talent beyond the expected competition structure. These six musicians represent the future, and our job is to be part of a worldwide network that is committed to supporting them."

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