Tokyo International Viola Competition

Winners of the 4th Tokyo International Viola Competition announced

Luosha Fang from China won the first prize.
China and South Korea shared the second prize. No third prize awarded.

China and South Korea shared the second prize. No third prize awarded.
Tokyo International Viola Competition (TIVC) is the only international competition in Asia-Pacific exclusively for the viola. It was launched in 2009 as a part of Viola Space, a festival for viola founded in 1992 and dedicated to "celebrating the viola, introducing outstanding works and new works for viola, and promoting young artists". Please refer to the press release from April 24. http://fpcj.jp/en/prlisting/tokyo-international-viola-competition/

In this year’s edition, which was successfully held from May 26 to June 3 as a part of the 27th Viola Space, there were 83 original entries from 21 different countries/regions. Of these, 32 participated in the week long competition. The week also included gala concerts and open workshops by jury members and other top-class performers, including the President of the Jury, Nobuko Imai and the Vice-president of the Jury, Antoine Tamestit. Ichiro Nodaira, the jury member and the composer of the commissioned work “TRANSFORMATION III on five fragments of J.S.Bach for viola” which was premiered by 8 semi-finalists in the second round, also took part in two gala concerts as a pianist.

In the second part of the final round, each of the 4 finalists performed Paul Hindemith’s “Der Schwanendrehrer” with New Japan Philharmonic, one of the leading orchestras in Japan, conducted by Kosuke Tsunoda.

Award ceremony was held on June 3 at Ishibashi Memorial Hall, Ueno Gakuen. Luosha Fang from China won the first prize. Sejune Kim (South Korea) and Ziyu Shen (China) shared the second prize. No third prize was awarded.

Following is a complete list of prizes and winners.

1st prize: Luosha Fang, China

Prize money of JPY1,000,000
[Special prizes]
・Viola D’amore Prize: A viola d’amore made and donated by Robert Blaszauer, viola maker, Hungary
・Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra Prize: An opportunity to perform in no. 468 subscription concerts in May, 2019
・Appearance at Prizewinners' Concert at Ishibashi Memorial Hall, Ueno Gakuen (Tokyo) on June 3, 2018.
・Appearance at Prizewinners' Gala Concert at Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance THE PHOENIX HALL (Osaka) on June 4, 2018.
・Appearance at Prizewinners' Gala Concert at Munetsugu Hall (Nagoya) on June 6, 2018.
・Appearance at Prizewinners' Gala Concert at PaToNa Hall (Sendai) on June 8, 2018.
・Appearance at Viola Space 2019 and 2020