Violinist Mayumi Kanagawa, 16, Wins 2011 Klein Int'l String Competition
Prestigious award carries $12,200 in cash prizes and more
Violinist Mayumi Kanagawa, 16, of Japan, has won the 26th annual Irving M. Klein International String Competition held June 4 and 5 on the campus of San Francisco State University.
Kanagawa takes home the Marvin T. Tepperman Memorial Prize, which includes $12,200 and performances with the Peninsula and Santa Cruz symphonies, and Noontime Concerts, among others. Kanagawa also won the $200 Allen and Susan Weiss Memorial Prize for the Best Performance of the Commissioned Work and the $500 Pablo Casals Prize for the best performance of the solo Bach work.
The Klein competition has helped boost the careers of such top soloists as David Requiro, Jennifer Koh, Mark Kosower, Vadim Gluzman, Alban Gerhardt, Wendy Warner, Frank Huang and François Salque.
“I rarely remember a presentation of such uniformly expressive and polished performances in our 26-year history, and with such a range of engaging musical personalities,” said Mitchell Sardou Klein, competition director, in a written statement. “Even so, 16-year-old violinist Mayumi Kanagawa received a strong first-ballot endorsement of the jury for the first prize. Her performances showed remarkably focused musical integrity, warmth and passion. The audience and the jury were equally moved and enthralled by her fervent and fiery playing.”
Kanagawa, a junior at the Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica, is an academy student of Robert Lipsett and Arnold Steinhardt at Colburn School of Music in Los Angeles. She is the second consecutive student of Lipsett to win the Klein’s first prize—Francesca dePasquale won last year.
Her performances included movements from Beethoven’s Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 4 in A minor, Op. 23; Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77; Bach’s Sonata No. 1 in G minor, BWV 1001; and Elena Ruehr’s commissioned work, “Klein Suite.”
Second prize went to cellist Matthew Allen, 19, cello, who studies with Melissa Kraut and attends Cleveland Institute of Music. Third prize was awarded to violinist Ji-Won Song, 17, violin, who studies with Victor Danchenko and attends Curtis Institute of Music. And, in a tie, fourth prizes went to violinist Daniel Cho, 17, and cellist Mindy Park, 21.
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