Prestigious violin competition changes competition rules

The 2020 Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition (SISIVC), which has been postponed for two years, recently announced that it would change its competition system.

According to the new system, the six candidates who have reached the final round will not be competing for rankings. Instead, they will present an online concert titled "In Tribute to Isaac Stern's Centennial SISIVC Winners' Concert" from August 26-28. The concert can be viewed on SISIVC's official social media channels.

The concert will see each candidate present two recorded concerto performances - a concerto of their choice and 'Night Tour' by Zhou Tian, a piece commissioned by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (SSO).

Applications for the third SISIVC were sent out in August 2019. According to the original plan, the preliminary round was to be completed online at the beginning of 2020, and the quarter-final, semi-final and final rounds were to take place in Shanghai from August 4 to 25. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic then disrupted the schedules, and the organizers of the 2020 SISIVC decided to postpone the competition.

In August 2021, six candidates – Rino Yoshimoto (Japan), Thomas Lefort (France), Ruifeng Lin (China), Felicitas Schiffner (Germany), Angela Sin Ying Chan (Hong Kong SAR, China), and Shannon Lee (United States) – entered the final round after eight days of competition.

Zhou Tian is the first Chinese musician to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.

Each of the six candidates will be awarded a certificate for entering the final round of the 2020 SISIVC, as well as a $20,000 scholarship. The SISIVC will also provide financial support to all candidates to ensure their competition videos are of the highest quality.

"Under the current circumstances, it is more important to effectively send these six candidates on track to the next chapter of their music journey. That's why we have decided to provide them with scholarships and continued support measures, in order to help them head into the future with an easier and clearer path," said Yu Long, president of the organization committee and music director of SSO.