Shihan Wang
names September 2009 as the "beginning of violin-learning". The eleven year old violinist was born in Beijing and has been taught for 3 years by Prof. Wang Hong at the Central Conservatory of Music in his home town. In 2014 and 2015 he took part in the international Qingdao master classes as a violinist and was chosen for participation in the final concert because of his special accomplishments. Another international master class for strings in 2015 led him for the first time to Europe – to the monastery Schöntal in Austria. There he took part in the 16th international competition for violin and was awarded 2nd prize as well as a special award for the best interpretation of baroque works. This year the young violinist has travelled to Taiwan and performed at the Yilan violin festival. In June Shihan Wang was invited to participate in the opening concert of the Singapore Violin Festival where he was awarded with the Rising Star Prize. In July 2016 he performed in London and won the 1st Prize of the London Bridge Music Academy.

Hana Chang
already at the age of 7 stood on the stage as a soloist alongside the New England Conservatory Baroque Chamber Orchestra. After this, performances with the Lexington Symphony, the Concord Orchestra, the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra and the New England Conservatory Youth Repertoire Orchestra followed. The foundation behind these early successes was laid by violin teachers such as Prof. Yuri Mazurkevich at the Boston University as well as Miguel Perez-Espejo Cardenas and Klaudia Szlachta. Hana Chang currently studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music in the Junior Young Artist Program in the class of Prof. Ivan Ženatý. Hana has already been successful in many youth competitions in her homeland including 1st prize in the Stradivarius International Violin Competition in July 2016, and will be performing with the Utah Symphony and the China Hunan Symphony Orchestra in 2017. Masterclasses have led her to James Ehnes and Zakhar Bron.

Marley Erickson
Since making her solo orchestral debut with the Ottawa Chamber Symphony at age 11, Marley has performed as soloist with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, L'Accademia d'archi Arrigoni, and the Mitteleuropa Orchestra. She recently won an engagement with the Port Angeles Symphony, and has upcoming solo concerts in Italy under the direction of Domenico Mason. Marley competed in the 2016 Menuhin International Violin Competition and was a laureate at the 2016 Il Piccolo Violino Magico Competition. Marley was a participant in the Cambridge International Strings Academy, the Brian Lewis Young Artist Program, Encore Chamber Music Academy, Japan-Seattle Suzuki Institute, and has been a member of the Seattle Youth Orchestras. She is an annual recipient of a Turtle Bluff music scholarship in Port Townsend and has performed in many benefit concerts supporting the arts, medical research, and developing nations. Marley currently studies with Simon James and piano collaborator Hiro David, having previously studied with Jan Coleman and Pat Yearian. She has also worked with, among others, Paul Kantor, Tasmin Little, Brian Lewis, Gerardo Ribeiro, David Halen, Leila Josefowicz, Robert Lipsett, Stephen Shipps, Keng-Yuen Tseng, Hu Kun, Danielle Belen, and Rodney Friend.


 

Anne Luisa Kramb
was this year the first German violinist for 14 years to have reached the final of the renowned Menuhin Violin Competition in London. The 16 year old can already look back on a whole range of first prizes at both national and international competitions. Born in Aschaffenburg she began playing both violin and piano at the age of four. At the age of six she received lessons at the Musikhochschule in Würzburg and at the age of 11 became a junior student in Frankfurt. In 2014 she completed her Precollege studies once again in Würzburg. Anne Luisa Kramb has already given concerts with the Göttinger Symphony Orchestra, the Würzburger Philharmonikern and the St. Andrew Orchestra in Edinburgh. She plays a violin from Enrico Rocca (Genoa, ca 1900) from the Musikinstrumentenfonds der Deutschen Stiftung Musikleben.

Elias David Moncado
received his first violin lessons at the age of 4 with Keiko Skiba and then later with Prof. Rainer Kussmaul at the Pflüger-Stiftung Freiburg. Born in Aachen in 2000, this German violinist became a junior student at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg i. Br. under Prof. Latica Honda-Rosenberg at the age of 7. One year later he moved to the Julius-Stern-Institute, University of the Arts Berlin. Since January 2016 he has also been a junior student at the Interlaken Classics Academy under Prof. Zakhar Bron. Elias David Moncado won 2nd prize at the international Paul-Hindemith-Competition in Berlin at only 8 years old and the youngest competitor. After this, many international successes followed, including the Grand Prix (1st prize) at "The Flame" competition in Paris 2013, the 1st prize at the Young Paganini-Competition in Legnica (Poland) 2014 as well as the 2nd prize at the Telemann-Competition in Poznan (Poland) 2015. In addition he has also recently received 1st prize at the German final of the Lions-Music-Competition in Darmstadt.
 

Sophia Su
describes word for word in her biography her musical enlightenment at the age of 3. She first began learning the piano, followed one year later by the addition of violin. Sophia Su was born in Macau in 2001. Diverse successes at national competitions for young violinists led to the opportunity for Sophia Su to perform a Mozart concerto in 2008 in her home town with the Macau Orchestra. She was also chosen to play the Song of Macau on a DVD for the World’s Fair EXPO 2010 in Shanghai. The 15 year old is currently studying at the renowned Juilliard School in the class of Prof. Masao Kawasaki. From 2014 to 2016 she performed multiple times as a soloist. At the Bruckner-Festival in Linz (Austria) she performed Paganini’s 1st violin concerto.

Sin Ying Chan
also carries the western name of Angela Chan. The 19 year old was born in Hongkong and received violin lessons from her mother already at the age of 3. As a 5 year old she received lessons from Prof. Michael Ma at the Hongkong Academy of Performing Arts and at the age of 10 became the concertmaster of the Junior Chamber Orchestra of the academy. After moving to the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing 2009 she also quickly slipped into the position of concertmaster of the National Prodigies Chamber Orchestra. Sin Ying Chan has won a variety of prizes at national and international competitions. Since 2013 she has studied at the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (USA). A scholarship led her in 2015 to the six week summer camp of the Heifetz International Music Institute in Virginia and in July 2016 was invited to the Verbier Festival Academy in Switzerland.

Sumina Studer
received the 1st prize with distinctions 3 times in a row at the Swiss Young Musicians' Competition in the solo category and then continued as a multiple award winner in the chamber music (duo, trio) category. This young Swiss girl is also a prize winner of the Arthur Grumiaux International Competition. In addition she was presented the cultural award in 2014 in her homeland. Born in Zurich in 1997, Sumina Studer began playing violin under Simone Zgraggen at the Zurich Conservatory. After ten years, she moved to the class of Philip Draganov. She is currently studying at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin under Prof. Antje Weithaas. Sumina Studer has also over the last few years visited masterclasses under Roland Vamos, Mihaela Martin, Pierre Amoyal, Ulf Hoelscher, Igor Ozim, Gerhard Schulz, Pavel Vernikov, Alf-Richard Kraggerud and many others.

 

Mairéad Hickey
was born in 1996 in Ireland. At the age of 3 she began playing violin under the direction of Jyrki Pietila. She then received lessons from Adrian Petcu at the Cork School of Music until 2014. A year abroad then followed: As a 15 year old Mairéad Hickey went to Prof. Constantin Serban at the Conservatoire de Nantes in France. From 2010 to 2015 she won a series of international music prizes in Romania, Italy and her homeland. In 2016 the young Irish violinist took part in the Kronberg-Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World program where she was able to perform alongside stars such as Steven Isserlis, Christian Tetzlaff and Mate Bekavac. Solo performances have already led her across Ireland as well as to various stages in Europe and the USA, Carnegie Hall being among them. She has recently founded her own music festival in Ireland – the Ortús Chamber Music Festival.