In September 2020, we regrettably had to take the decision to postpone the competition to March 2021. Now, given the recent developments concerning the new variant of Covid-19, we have been informed by our host institution that the competition will unfortunately not be able to proceed in March. The competition will instead be postponed to September 2021 – exact dates to be confirmed by mid-January 2021.

As before, the format of the competition (and evening recitals) will remain unchanged, and all the competitors originally selected will still be automatically eligible to take part in September 2021. Initial responses from competitors about the first postponement were understanding and positive, and we would anticipate similar reactions to the new date.

The competition will be held at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, part of Birmingham City University, supported by the Arts Council of England.

Thanks also to our partners, the Tertis Foundation, EM Records, English Music Festival, Bishop Instruments and Bows, British Violin Making Association, Gwyn Williams Trust, Ayres Violins, and Pirastro.

The British Viola Society is proud to announce the 40 live competitors chosen for the Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition 2021:

Vittorio Benaglia                (Italy)
Alvaro Castello                   (Spain)
Yuxin Chen                          (China)
Jone Diamantini                (Italy)
Edgar Francis                      (UK)
Chang Ge                           (China)
Seamus Hickey                   (Ireland)
Brian Isaacs                         (USA)
Yong-ha Jung                     (South Korea)
James Kang                        (USA)
Bill Ko                                    (Hong Kong)
Dagmar Korbar                  (Croatia)
Dana Lee                             (Australia)
Yat Lee                                 (Hong Kong)
Yixiu Lin                                  (China)
Laura Liu                               (USA)
Zitian Lyu                              (China)
Devin Moore                       (USA)
Hanuel Park                         (South Korea)
Anuschka Pedano            (Netherlands)
Connie Pharoah                (UK)
Eva-Maria Radl                   (Austria)
Mikel Rollet                           (USA)
Alinka Rowe                        (UK)
Noga Shaham                    (Israel)
Joseph Skerik                       (USA)
Abigail Smith                       (USA)
Miguel Sobrinho                 (Portugal)
Marvin Stark                         (Germany)
Lynn Sue-A-Quan              (Canada)
Nicholas Swensen              (Denmark)
Anna Sypniewski                (France)
Otoha Tabata                    (Japan)
Yanan Wang                       (China)
Yujie Wang                          (China)
Zhupeng Xi                          (China)
Mingyue Yu                         (China)
Yujie Zeng                            (China)
Jaren Ziegler                       (UK)
Paul Zientara                       (France)