Organizers for the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition (SISIVC) announced that a total of 174 applicants have been submitted for this year’s edition, an increase of more than 22% from the inaugural competition in 2016 (142 applicants).
Applicants hail from 33 countries and regions, an increase of 27% from 2016 (26 countries and regions). The greatest area of growth, by a significant margin, was in non-Chinese applicants (65% growth vs. 2016). Applicant countries/regions this year include: Australia, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Canada, China, Czech, Ecuador, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong (China), Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Libya, Malaysia, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan (China), Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam.
More than 90% of the applicants for the 2018 SISIVC have won prizes in national and international competitions and most are graduates or are currently attending premier music schools and institutions.
To provide outstanding young performers with a chance to emerge, SISIVC organizers broadened the enrolment age of the 2018 SISIVC from 18-32 years in 2016 to 16-32 years in 2018. Consequently, 65% of applicants this year are under 25 years, and of those, nearly 68% are under the age of 20 – an increase of 64% in young applicants vs. 2016.
The announcement of pre-selection results will take place in April 2018. Up to 36 applicants from the pool will be chosen to travel to Shanghai for the first round of the 2018 SISIVC, which opens on 10 August.
