International Violin Competition of Indianapolis Laureates

2006 Competition

Augustin Hadelich, Germany
Gold medalist of the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, Augustin Hadelich has established himself as a commanding and unique voice among the new generation of violinists. Articulate and stylistically convincing throughout the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary repertoires, his versatility is astonishing. In the words of The Strad magazine, "...the evening closed with a performance worth waiting for. Hadelich showed his superlative musicianship in a daring performance of Mozart's lesser-known Concerto No. 2, in which he presented cadenzas of striking originality."

In January 2008, Augustin Hadelich will make his Carnegie Hall orchestral debut, performing Brahms Double Concerto under Miguel Harth-Bedoya, with cellist Alban Gerhardt and the Fort Worth Symphony. This will be followed by his Carnegie Hall solo recital debut on March 28, 2008 in Stern Auditorium. At Lincoln Center in November 2007, Mr. Hadelich will present a solo recital at the Reade Theater. Later that season he will perform in collaboration with Midori at the Rose Theater in May 2008.

Other upcoming and recent performances include appearances with the symphonies of Charlotte, Chautauqua, Columbus (OH), Fort Worth, Grand Rapids, Greenville, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Louisiana, Louisville, Portland (ME), and Santa Barbara, as well as the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Hadelich will be collaborating with renowned conductors such as Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Gunter Herbig, Christoph Poppen, Stefan Sanderling, Michael Stern and Mario Venzago. Outside the U.S., engagements have included the Capetown Philharmonic, Dresdner Philharmonie, Museumsorchester Frankfurt, Orquestra Sinfonica do Teatro Nacional Claudio Santoro (Brazil), Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, and the chamber orchestras of Bavaria, Berlin, Hamburg, Kiel, Lucerne, Pforzheim and Toulouse.

The 2007-2008 season will also mark Mr. Hadelich's professional recording debut with four CDs: the complete solo violin sonatas of Telemann and the complete violin concerti of Franz Josef Haydn for Naxos; the Tchaikovsky concerto with the Saarbrücken Radio Orchestra under Christoph Poppen; and a recital CD with pianist Robert Kulek on the award-winning label AVIE.

Born in Italy in 1984, the son of German parents, Augustin Hadelich holds a diploma (summa cum laude) from the Instituto Mascagni in Livorno, Italy, and a graduate diploma from The Juilliard School, where he studies with Joel Smirnoff. He has been a participant at the Marlboro and Ravinia festivals and in numerous master classes with renowned violinists such as Uto Ughi, Christoph Poppen, Norbert Brainin, Pinchas Zukerman, Zakhar Bron, Yehudi Menuhin and Miriam Fried.

In 1999, Mr. Hadelich almost lost his life in a fire at the family's farm in Italy. His successful return to the concert stage after many operations and months of painful recovery is a testament to his remarkable talent and indomitable spirit.

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Simone Lamsma, The Netherlands
Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma won the Silver Medal at the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, where she also claimed two special prizes for Best Performance of an Ysaÿe Sonata and Paganini Caprices.

Ms. Lamsma made her highly acclaimed solo debut at the age of fourteen performing Paganini Concerto No.1 with the Northern Dutch Orchestra under Takuo Yuasa, and has since then performed as a soloist as well as a chamber musician in many major venues in England, The Netherlands, South Africa, Venezuela, Belgium, Slovakia, USA, France, Germany and China.

As a soloist, Ms. Lamsma has worked with renowned conductors such as Sir Andrew Davis, Owain Arwel Hughes, James Judd, Eri Klas, Carlos Riazuelo, Jac van Steen, Michel Tabachnik, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Allin Vlasenko and Takuo Yuasa, appearing with many orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, London Soloists Chamber Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, The Hague Residentie Orchestra, Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra, Northern Dutch Orchestra, Cape Philharmonic Orchestra, KZN Philharmonic Orchestra, Slovak Sinfonietta of Žilina, l'Orchestre Charlemagne, Orquesta Sinfónica Municipal de Caracas, and National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine. Many of her performances have been broadcast live on radio and television in The Netherlands, England, USA, France, Germany, China, South America and South Africa.

Enormously successful in the world's international violin competitions, Ms Lamsma won First Prizes at the 2005 China International Violin Competition, the 2004 Britten International Violin Competition, and the 2003 Dutch National Violin Competition. Among her many other awards are laureate prizes at the 2002 Concours International Long-Thibaud and Yehudi Menuhin Competition Senior Section.

Ms. Lamsma's debut recital disc for the Naxos label was released in July 2006, and has been received to great critical acclaim, with rave reviews in the Strad, the Telegraph (UK), Classic FM Magazine (in which the CD was featured as "Best instrumental disc of the month"), and Klassik.com. In July 2006 Ms. Lamsma was featured by Naxos as "Naxos' artist of the week." Her second disc for Naxos will feature violin concertos by Spohr, with the Sinfonia Finlandia under Patrick Gallois, and will be released at the beginning of 2008.

In 2005 Ms. Lamsma was invited to play the famous "Viotti ex-Bruce" Stradivarius for several performances. Her appearances included a BBC-TV news broadcast, a short recital, and an additional segment on the BBC Culture Show.

Ms. Lamsma began her studies at the Dutch Northern Conservatory. She moved to the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam to work with Professor Davina van Wely. After being invited to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School, Ms. Lamsma moved to England at the age of eleven to study with Professor Hu Kun. The youngest student ever to enter The Royal Academy of Music's Bachelor of Music Program in London, she continued her studies at the Royal Academy with Professor Kun and, subsequently, with Professor Maurice Hasson. Ms. Lamsma graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London, aged nineteen, with first class honours, and was awarded several prizes including the prestigious "HRH Princess Alice's Prize".

Currently, Ms. Lamsma performs on a 1709 Carlo Tononi violin.

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Celeste Golden, United States
Celeste Golden made her orchestral debut at age eleven at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas. Since then, she has performed with numerous orchestras around the world, including the Latvian Chamber Orchestra (Riga, Latvia), the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia in Brussels, Belgium, Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra, Music in the Mountains Festival Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival Sinfonia Orchestra, American Academy of Conducting Orchestra and the Waco Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Golden has taken prizes at several national and international competitions. She won first place in the solo competition as well as the Grand Prize of the Kingsville International Young Performers Competition, and third prize at the Irving Klein Competition. In 2005, Ms. Golden was the winner of the Aspen Music Festival Concerto Competition, the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition, third prize winner of the Ima Hogg International Music Competition in Houston, Texas, and a semifinalist of the Queen Elisabeth Competition (Belgium). Other prizes have included those at the Lynn Harrell Concerto Competition, Corpus Christi Young Artists' Competition, Dallas Music Teacher's Association Symphonic Festival (First Prize 1995, '96, '97, '98; Grand Prize winner, 2000), Lennox Young Artists Competition, Juanita Miller Youth Competition and Sunray Music Festival.

In 1999, Ms. Golden was the youngest member of the New York String Orchestra Seminar, later becoming concertmaster of the 2005 NYSOS with concerts at Carnegie Hall. She has collaborated in concert with such musicians as Arnold Steinhardt, Akira Eguchi, Ida Kavafian and Jaime Laredo. In 2004, she won a three-year fellowship to the Aspen Music Festival and School. She was subsequently awarded the Dorothy DeLay Memorial Fellowship by the festival, an award given to only one violin student each summer.

Ms. Golden is a member of the IRIS Chamber Orchestra in Germantown, Tennessee under conductor Michael Stern. She received a Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with David Cerone and Paul Kantor. After beginning her musical studies at the age of three, she studied with Arkady Fomin. She was accepted into The Curtis Institute of Music at the age of fifteen as a student of Jaime Laredo and Ida Kavafian. She completed her Bachelor of Music degree at Curtis in 2005.

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Yura Lee, South Korea
Born in South Korea in 1985, violinist/violist Yura Lee has enjoyed an exceptional career since coming to the United States in 1994. In recent seasons she has appeared with many prestigious orchestras, among them the New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic and the Monte Carlo Philharmonic, among many others. The 1999-2000 season saw her Carnegie Hall debut with the National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Leonard Slatkin, following subscription concerts in Washington, D.C.

An acclaimed young artist, Ms. Lee was presented with an Avery Fisher Career Grant in April 2007, a $25,000 prize designed to give professional assistance and recognition to rising young instrumentalists. In 2006 Ms. Lee was selected for the Pro Musicis International Award. That year Ms. Lee also won prizes at several of the world's leading international competitions. She took First Prize in the Leopold Mozart Competition where she was also awarded the Mozart Prize, Mozart Medal, Jugendjury Prize, and the Public Prize; she was the Fourth Prize Laureate in the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis; and just weeks after "The Indianapolis", was the Second Prize winner in the Premio Paganini Competition in Italy. Ms. Lee received the "Debut Artist of the Year" prize at the 1997 Performance Today awards given by National Public Radio.

An earnest chamber musician, Ms. Lee has performed on and been re-engaged at some of the world's major festivals including the Verbier, Salzburg, Caramoor, Aspen, Music from Angel Fire, Ravinia, Vail and Marlboro festivals. In 2002-2003, Ms. Lee was nominated and represented by Carnegie Hall for its ECHO (European Concert Hall Organization) series. For this series, Ms. Lee gave recitals at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall and at nine celebrated concert halls in Europe including London's Wigmore Hall, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She currently performs as a member of the Koryo String Quartet, Boston Artists Ensemble, New York City's Metropolis Ensemble, and the International Sejong Soloists.

Major media outlets have featured Ms. Lee on appearances such as the "Late Show with David Letterman," CNN/fN, "Fox on Arts," WABC-TV in New York, KBS in South Korea and ZDF Arte in Germany. She also made a special musical appearance on the acclaimed HBO series "Oz." Yura Lee began her violin studies at age four with Nam-Yun Kim in Seoul, Korea. Her extraordinary talent was quickly recognized when, at age five, she won a top prize at the prestigious Hankook Ilbo Competition in Seoul. Two years later she made her debut with Korea's leading orchestra, the KBS Symphony, performing Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1. From 1994 to 2001, Ms. Lee studied at The Juilliard School of Music, under the late Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang. During the summers of 1995-2000 she was a full scholarship student at the Aspen Music School. In 2001 and 2002 she participated at the Steans Institute for Young Artists at Ravinia. From 2001-2005, Ms. Lee studied with Miriam Fried and Paul Biss at Indiana University and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

Yura Lee plays the 1778 Joseph and Antonio Gagliano violin, on loan from the Ravinia Festival in Chicago.

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Ye-Eun Choi, South Korea
A native of Seoul, South Korea, Ye-Eun Choi began studying the violin at six years of age. Her primary instructor was Nam-Yun Kim at the Korean National University of Arts Pre-College Program. Since 2005, Ye-Eun has been studying with Ana Chumachenko at the München Musik Hochschule. Recognized for her virtuosity and musical maturity, the promising young violinist has received high acclaim for her performances in concert and at competitions worldwide.

Ye-Eun has received numerous awards and prizes at several prestigious competitions. At just twelve years old, Ye-Eun won First Prize at the competition of the Seoul Baroque Chamber Orchestra in 2000. She was awarded scholarships from Ishikawa Music Academy (Japan) in 2002 and the "Anne-Sophie Mutter Circle of Friends Foundation" in 2005. At the 2003 Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition (Germany), where she was the youngest participant, Ye-Eun captured Second Prize. Recently she was awarded the Second Prize at the 2006 Montreal International Musical Competition, and was the Fifth Laureate and the youngest prizewinner in the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.

Ye-Eun has performed as a soloist with several orchestras, including the Münchner Rundfunk Orchestra, Trondheim Soloists, Kuhmo Chamber Orchestra (Finland), the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, the China Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and Seoul Baroque Chamber Orchestra. She has also performed at European festivals including at the Rheingau Music Festival in Germany, the Asiago Festival in Italy and the Verbier Festival & Academy in Switzerland. During the 2006-2007 season she performed the Bach Double Concerto with Anne Sophie-Mutter in both Münich and in Frankfurt. She will perform with her again in Dresden in September 2007.

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Bella Hristova, Bulgaria
In June 1999, at age thirteen, violinist Bella Hristova arrived in the United States from her native Bulgaria to study under Stephen Shipps at the Meadowmount School of Music in New York state. Mr. Shipps immediately recognized Bella's extraordinary charisma and musical abilities following performances at the International Kocian Competition in the Czech Republic, including a work by twentieth-century Bulgarian composer Pancho Vladigerov. By far the youngest among an international group of young professionals at Meadowmount, she played in a concert of the complete Solo Sonatas of Belgian violin virtuoso Eugene Ysaÿe, an event showcased by Strad Magazine.

Bella Hristova was born, to musical parents, in the small commercial and manufacturing city of Pleven, Bulgaria in 1985. Her mother, a school choral conductor and piano teacher, gave her encouragement and a quarter-size violin, with lessons starting at age six. With natural self-assurance to complement exceptional talent, she played for a live television audience only months later. By age eleven she was regularly taking the train to Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, for study with Joseph Radionov, developing a dexterous technique and mastering repertory. In 1998, playing Prokofiev, she participated in master classes of Ruggiero Ricci at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. She decided to stay in the United States and continue musical studies with Shipps at the University of Michigan School of Music while completing high school in Ann Arbor. Setting out on a career path, four appearances as concerto soloist with the Ann Arbor Symphony were sold out. Broadening the musical experience, eminent pianist Martin Katz coached her chamber music skills. On return to the International Kocian Competition, judges awarded her First Prize in 2000 and the sweep of Grand Prize, European Union Prize and Barenreiter Prize in 2001. Becoming a remarkably well-rounded musician, her repertory stretches fearlessly from Bach to the latest contemporary compositions. Favorites include nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian works, a heritage through her late father, a composer himself. In September 2003, at seventeen, Ms. Hristova entered The Curtis Institute of Music where she studies violin with Ida Kavafian and chamber music with Steve Tenenbom.

Audiences from the Caribbean to the Pacific Northwest have already heard the blossoming artistry of Bella Hristova's violin playing. In 2002 she appeared before a capacity crowd of 11,000 at the Tanglewood Music Festival on a radio broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. The Ann Arbor, Illinois, Indianapolis, Redding (CA), Olympia (WA), Wyoming, and Ashland (OH) Symphony Orchestras have featured her as concerto soloist. She has been a guest on Christopher O'Riley's radio program, From the Top, and was invited by him to appear in the inaugural (2004) International Young Artists Music Festival on Hilton Head Island of which he is artistic director. In 2005 she was re-engaged for a second season. Other recent engagements include a Grand Teton Festival debut, concerto performance with the University of South Carolina Orchestra, a fifth concerto appearance with the Ann Arbor Symphony, returns to the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion in 2004 and 2006. In 2005 she made her debut at the New Hampshire Music Festival, performing Astor Piazolla's Four Seasons. In 2006 Bella was featured in the May issue of O, the Oprah Magazine and won the Sixth Place Prize at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Most recently she was named the First Prize winner of the 4th Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand.

Bella Hristova plays a 1655 Amati, once owned by the famous violinist Louis Krasner, on permanent loan.

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