Finalists Announced at the 2023 Concours musical international de Montréal

Tune into the competition's Final Round on May 3 and 4, live on The Violin Channel

Open to violinists of all nationalities, born between January 1, 1993, and December 31, 2006, the violin edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal (CMIM) will award nearly $160,000 CAD in prizes and awards.

As one of the competition’s official 2023 media partners, The Violin Channel is providing exclusive rolling coverage – live from all venues.

At the conclusion of the Semifinal round which took place on April 29 - 30, the jury has selected six finalists:

• 23-year-old VC Young Artist Dmytro Udovychenko from Ukraine
• 22-year-old VC Young Artist Nathan Meltzer from the United States
• 19-year-old Michael Shaham from Israel
• 23-year-old SongHa Choi from South Korea
• 22-year-old VC Young Artist SooBeen Lee from South Korea
• 24-year-old Ruslan Talas from Kazakhstan

The Final round will take place on May 3 and 4, both at 7:30 PM (ET) at the Maison symphonique de Montréal. Each of the six finalists will perform a concerto of their choice with conductor Rafael Payare and the CMIM’s official orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM).

First prize will be awarded $80,000, second prize will receive $15,000, and third prize will get $10,000. Additional awards include the People’s Choice Award, Best Canadian Artist, Best Interpretation of a Sonata, Best Performance of a Work by J.S. Bach, Best Performance of an Imposed Canadian work, among others. There is also a Normand Beauchamp Winner’s Tour to three North American cities worth $15,000.

Chaired by Richard Rodzinski, the international jury for Violin 2023 is comprised of seven distinguished members: Koichiro Harada, Yura Lee, Malcolm Lowe, Mihaela Martin, Lucie Robert, Dmitry Sitkovetsky, and Krishna Thiagarajan.

In 2019, VC Young Artist Hao Zhou was awarded first prize in the last violin edition. Other former major prize winners include VC Artists Ayana Tsuji, Bomsori Kim, Minami Yoshida, Benjamin Beilman, Nikita Borioso-Glebsky, Stephen Waarts, Marc Bouchkov, and Fedor Rudin.