Sirena Huang Wins the Inaugural Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition

By Laurie Niles: Sirena Huang was named the first-prize winner in the first-ever Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition, following the Finals and Saturday and Sunday at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fl. Here is a list of all the winners and cash prizes:

• First Prize ($30,000): Sirena Huang, 22 of the U.S.
• Second Prize ($15,000): Alina Ming Kobialka, 19 of the U.S.
• Third Prize ($10,000): Hannah Tarley, 25 of the U.S
• Honorable Mention: ($1,000): Quanshuai Li, 25 of China

Huang made her solo debut with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra at age nine and has since performed has been featured as a soloist with more than 40 orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Weimar in Germany, and Russian Symphony Orchestra. A veteran of the competition circuit, Huang won Third Prize at the 2016 Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition; Third Prize at the 2015 Singapore International Violin Competition; the Hannloser Prize for Violin at the 2013 Verbier Music Festival; and First Prize and the Audience Award at the 2011 Cooper International Competition. In 2009 she won First Prize in the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians (not to be confused with the International Tchaikovsky Competition). As First-Prize winner of the Oliveira competition, Huang also will receive a new modern violin, crafted by violin makers Feng Jiang, Jeffrey Phillips, Andrew Ryan and John Young; a silver-mounted bow from Eric Lane; a Musafia Case; a signed copy of The American Violin; and a $250 gift certificate from the International Violin Company. She also will receive public relations and artist management support, and future performances with the following orchestras and festivals: Atlantic Classical Orchestra, Fort Pierce, FL; Bach, Beethoven and Brahms Society, Brookline, MA; Brevard Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne, FL; Music in the Mountains, Durango, CO; and Newport Music Festival, Newport, RI and more. Her teachers have included Linda Fiore, Stephen Clapp and Sylvia Rosenberg. The Oliveira competition began last week with 20 competitors, ages 19-31, from eight countries. Jury members for the Oliveira competition include Daniel Heifetz (Chairman), Andrés Cárdenes, Gudny Gudmundsdottir, Ilya Kaler, Vera Tsu Wei-ling, Alexander Gilman and Charles Castleman. BELOW: First Prize winner Sirena Huang performs the first movements from Mozart Concerto No. 5 and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto in the Olivera competition Semi Finals, Part 2. You might also like:

• Listening to the Finalists in the Shanghai Competition
• Christopher Germain talks about The American Violin, then and now
• Elmar Oliveira and Lynn Conservatory Announce New Competition
• Tchaikovsky Lesson with Elmar Oliveira; Performing Chance of a Lifetime