IVCI 2018 Laureates
Richard Lin, Taiwan/U.S.A. – Gold Medalist
Taiwanese-American violinist Richard Lin is the newly crowned Gold Medalist of the 10th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis which took place in September of 2018. In addition to the Gold Medal, Richard captured three Special Prizes for his performances of Milstein’s Paganiniana in the Preliminaries, Kreisler’s Tambourin chinois in the Classical Finals and Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy in the Finals.
Highlights of Mr. Lin’s 2019-2020 season include concerto engagements with the Indianapolis, Montclair and Chippewa Valley symphonies as well as the New Mexico, Evansville and Marion philharmonics in the United States. Multiple recitals in Dallas, New York, Washington, D.C., and Poland will culminate in a Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium recital debut in June 2020. In Asia, Richard will tour Vietnam with the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra. He will also perform Beethoven Triple Concerto with the National Symphony Orchestra in Taipei and Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan.
Richard has collaborated with numerous orchestras and performed at celebrated concert venues throughout the world including his debut with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra under conductor Norichika Iimori at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall performing Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2. Other orchestras with whom he has worked are the NDR Radiophilharmonie, Poznań Philharmonic, Łódź Philharmonic, Polish Baltic Philharmonic, Oldenburg State Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Nagoya Philharmonic, Sendai Philharmonic, Kyushu Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonic, Oklahoma City Philharmonic, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Taiwan Philharmonic, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Amadeus Polish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, Yokohama Sinfonietta, Macau String Association Orchestra, and Academy of Taiwan Strings. He has also concertized throughout the United States, Canada, Germany, Poland, Finland, Belgium, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Macau and Taiwan.
In 2013, Richard released his first album on the Fontec label. The album includes works for violin and orchestra by Beethoven, Bartók and Brahms performed with the Sendai Philharmonic and conductor Pascal Verrot. The following year, he released his second album consisting of the complete Brahms Sonatas for Piano and Violin with his brother, Robert Lin, an accomplished pianist and now doctor in Taiwan. The Lin brothers have been collaborating for more than a decade and have performed critically acclaimed recitals in major cities in Taiwan and Japan.
Richard has amassed a startling collection of top prizes at major international competitions, including 1st Prize and the Audience Prize at the Sendai International Violin Competition; 3rd Prize in the Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition in Hannover; 2nd Prize, Audience Prize, and the Best Recital Prize in the Singapore International Violin Competition; and 2nd Prize and the Best Commissioned Work Prize in the Michael Hill International Violin Competition. He is also a Laureate of the Wieniawski and Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin competitions.
Born in Phoenix, Arizona and raised in Taiwan, Richard began his violin studies at the age of four. He gave his public debut at age of eleven performing the Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3 with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. At sixteen, he moved to the United States to follow his teacher Dr. Gregory Lee who was newly named to the violin faculty at the University of Oklahoma. In the same year, Richard was accepted to the Curtis Institute of Music and studied with respected pedagogue Aaron Rosand. He later received his master’s degree at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of renowned professor Lewis Kaplan.
Richard plays on a 2017 Sam Zygmuntowicz violin on loan to him for four years as part of his prize from the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.
Risa Hokamura, Japan – Silver Medalist
Ms. Hokamura began the violin at the age of three, and at the age of ten she began to capture top prizes in competitions in Japan. She first came to international attention upon winning the Silver Medal at the 2018 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, where she performed the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Indianapolis Symphony conducted by Leonard Slatkin. In celebration of her medal, she returned to Indianapolis to perform a special “Gold, Silver and Bronze Medalists Debut” concert. This season’s appearances include the Saint-Saëns Concerto as part of a special “Violin Virtuosos” gala concert with the Greensboro (NC) Symphony Orchestra led by Dmitry Sitkovetsky. Japanese violinist Risa Hokamura won First Prize in the 2018 Young Concert Artists International Auditions at the age of seventeen, as well as the Tannery Pond Concerts Prize, the Ruth Laredo Award, and the Ronald Asherson Award of YCA. She follows in the distinguished footsteps of her two major violin teachers, who also began their careers with Young Concert Artists: Koichiro Harada (founding first violinist of the Tokyo String Quartet) and Mayuko Kamio. Risa Hokamura is currently a student at the Tokyo College of Music High School, and she was featured on a benefit concert for the school at Tokyo’s Metropolitan Hall. Upcoming performances in Japan include a reengagement as soloist with the Kansai Philharmonic.
Luke Hsu, U.S.A. – Bronze Medalist
2018 Bronze Medalist, violinist and composer Luke Hsu is hailed as “in a class by himself with total command of the instrument” by the Montréal Gazette. As a soloist and recitalist, Luke has appeared at Wigmore Hall, St. John’s Smith Square, Windsor Castle, Kennedy Center, Herkulessaal, Jordan Hall and Teatro Carlo Felice, among many others. Additionally, he has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras around the world, including the Orchestre National de la Belgique, Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, Teatro Carlo Felice Genova Orchestra, the Houston, Dallas, Indianapolis, Auckland and Odense symphony orchestras, Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Royal Academy of Music Chamber Orchestra, and the Tongyeong Festival Orchestra. He has worked closely with eminent conductors including Leonard Slatkin, Nikolaj Znaider, Pascal Vierrot, Hugh Wolff, Marek Pijarowski, Jean-Jacques Kantarow and Cristian Macelaru. His performance with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra was recorded and broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today, and other performances have been broadcast on Canada’s CBC and Denmark’s DR. He has performed for royalty around the world including His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex Prince Edward and Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of Belgium.
Luke has won prizes at many of the most prestigious violin competitions in the world including the Paganini, Wieniawski, Isang Yun, Nielsen, and Queen Elisabeth competitions. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with luminaries such as Itamar Golan, Cho-Liang Lin, Gil Shaham, Marc-André Hamelin, Peter Frankl, Colin Carr, and musicians from the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. His festival appearances include Pablo Casals Festival, Verbier, La Jolla SummerFest, Prussia Cove Open Chamber Music, Music@Menlo, YellowBarn, San Miguel de Allende Chamber Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and Tongyeong International Music Festival. He is also currently Artistic Advisor for Music at the K&M Festival in Stavanger, Norway.
As a composer, Luke has written numerous chamber works including a duo written specifically for the Weilerstein Duo. Lutosławski and Webern are his biggest influences, and he hopes to write music that carries this tradition forward into the 21st century. Luke started his violin studies in Houston with Fredell Lack and Emanuel Borok, and debuted with the Houston Symphony at age 16. He then studied with Cho-Liang Lin at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory, and Rodney Friend at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He graduated from these institutions with numerous honors and prizes. Other teachers and close mentors include Vivian Hornik-Weilerstein, Kim Kashkashian and Lucy Chapman. He currently studies with Pierre Amoyal at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. Luke is a VC (Violin Channel) Young Artist.
Anna Lee, U.S.A. – Fourth Place Laureate
Anna Lee, born in South Korea, began violin studies at the age of four with Alexander Souptel and debuted as soloist performing the Paganini Violin Concerto No. 1 a year and a half later with Maestro Lan Shui and the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
Anna Lee has appeared in Carnegie, Wigmore, Alice Tully, Avery Fisher, and Esplanade concert halls. She has claimed top and special prizes in the 2018 Indianapolis, 2011 Sion-Valais, and 2010 and 2012 Menuhin (Junior and Senior Divisions, respectively) violin competitions.
Lee has been featured in music festivals around the world such as the Gstaad Menuhin Festival, the Marlboro Music Festival and Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute. She was also presented by Sir András Schiff at the BeethovenFest in Bonn. As a soloist, Anna made her New York Philharmonic debut in April 2011, as well as her German debut in 2016 with Maestro Christoph Eschenbach and the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra.
Anna Lee’s principal teachers at The Juilliard School Pre-College Division were Masao Kawasaki and Cho-Liang Lin; at the Kronberg Academy she studied with Ana Chumachenco. Currently, she is studying privately with Miriam Fried and Don Weilerstein while pursuing her Bachelor’s Degree in Comparative Literature at Harvard College. Anna Lee plays a Giovanni Tononi violin, dated ca. 1690, on a generous loan from the Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute.
Ioana Cristina Goicea, Romania – Fifth Place Laureate
Ioana Cristina Goicea is one of the outstanding violinists of her generation. She won First Prize at the 2017 Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand, with critics praising her passionate performance and describing her as “a new star in the musical firmament.” In 2018 she won First Prize at the German Music Competition in Bonn and was a Laureate of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. In 2019 she became a prize winner of the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels.
Ms. Goicea has performed at renowned venues and festivals in Europe, Asia, America, New Zealand and Australia, among them the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, St Martin-in- the-Fields, London, the Melbourne Recital Centre, the Bozar Brussels, the Queen Elisabeth Hall Antwerp, the Shanghai Concert Hall, the Athenaeum Bucharest, the Townhall Auckland and the Slovak Philharmonic Bratislava.
She has performed as a soloist with the Belgian National Orchestra, the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, the Auckland Philharmonia, the Indianapolis Symphony, the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra Bucharest, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the National Radio Orchestra Bucharest, the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie and the Baden-Baden Philharmonic.
In addition to her career as a soloist, the young violinist is also an avid chamber musician. In 2015, together with pianist Andrei Banciu, she won Second Prize and the Young Duo Award at the International Competition “Premio Trio di Trieste”. In 2016 she participated in the Chamber Music Academy of the Heidelberger Frühling Music Festival, in 2017 she was invited to the Hitzacker Festival and its Academy, and in 2018 she took part in the prestigious Verbier Festival Academy.
Ioana Cristina Goicea was born into a family of musicians in Bucharest in 1992. She is studying with Krzysztof Węgrzyn at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. She previously studied with Mariana Sîrbu at the University of Music and Theatre “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Leipzig and with Petru Munteanu at the University of Music and Theater in Rostock.
As an awardee of the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben, Hamburg and a laureate of the 21st Contest of the German Musikinstrumentefonds, Ioana Cristina Goicea plays a precious violin by Giambattista Guadagnini, Parma 1761, on loan from the Federal Republic of Germany.
Shannon Lee, U.S.A. – Sixth Place Laureate
Violinist Shannon Lee has been praised for her “remarkable fire, impeccable intonation, and big, vibrant tone” (Gramophone). She is a recent prizewinner in several international competitions, including top prize and audience award at the Sendai Competition in Japan, 4th prize at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium, 2nd place at the Naumburg Competition in New York City, and Laureate at the Indianapolis Competition, where she was also recognized for Best Performance of an Ysaÿe Sonata. Her festival appearances as a soloist and chamber musician include Heifetz International Music Institute as Artist-in-Residence, Krzyżowa-Music, Music@Menlo, and Music From Angel Fire. In 2016-17 she was a founding member of Bicycle String Trio, performing at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and Avaloch Farm Music Institute. Shannon also received generous support from the Sylva Gelber Foundation in Canada through their Award for career development.
Born in Canada, Shannon began studying violin at age four in Plano, Texas. She made her solo debut at the age of twelve with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and two years later performed in Europe with Maestro Christof Perick and the Nuremberg Philharmonic. Other notable appearances include with the Nashville Symphony, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Fresno Philharmonic and Phoenix Symphony. Her debut recording, Introducing Shannon Lee, features 19th and 20th century violin-piano works, which Gramophone Magazine praised for Shannon’s “technical command and fearless virtuosity.”
Shannon is pursuing a Master’s degree in Violin Performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Jaime Laredo and Jan Sloman as the inaugural Presidential Scholarship recipient. She received a diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia as a student of Ida Kavafian and Arnold Steinhardt. In Philadelphia, she also served as a Curtis ArtistYear Fellow under the mentorship of Mary Javian, developing the music program at Cramp Elementary Pre-K and working with All City Orchestra chamber music programs for high school students. Previously she completed her Bachelor’s degree in computer science from Columbia University while taking violin lessons with David Nadien. In Texas, Shannon studied with Jan Sloman, and has played privately or in master classes for Rainer Schmidt, Guillaume Pirard, and Boris Kushnir.