Concours de Genève 2025: Viola Final and Awards Ceremony
Concours de Genève — International Music Competition
Cast
Brian Isaacs — Violist
Sarah Strohm — Violist
Ayaka Taniguchi — Violist
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Cornelius Meister — Conductor
Program notes
The Concours de Genève - International Music Competition, founded in 1939 as the Concours International d'Exécution Musicale (CIEM), is one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious international music competitions. Aiming to discover, promote, and support talented upcoming artists as they work toward international success, the Concours de Genève also keeps things fascinating by focusing on a different discipline in each edition. For the 2025 competition, violists take center stage.
The moment of truth has arrived, and our three distinguished finalists — Brian Isaacs (25, USA), Sarah Strohm (20, Switzerland), and Ayaka Taniguchi (23, Japan) — have the chance to perform a concert program alongside the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande: Nouvel Élan by Léo Albisetti, which triumphed at the 2024 Concours de Genève in composition, and a concerto chosen from a list by Penderecki, Beamish, Bartók, and Hindemith. The esteemed jury — including Tabea Zimmermann, Tomoko Akasaka, and Ettore Causa — will then announce which of these extraordinary young artists will go home with top honors!
