Thomas & Evon Cooper International Competition

The Thomas & Evon Cooper International Competition (also known simply as the Cooper International Competition) is a piano and violin competition held annually at the Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. It is sponsored by Thomas and Evon Cooper and is presented jointly by the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Cleveland Orchestra.^[1] The competition is for young musicians 13–18 years of age and awards more than $20,000 in prize money, with a first prize of $10,000. The competition gives three finalists the opportunity to play a complete concerto with the Cleveland Orchestra. The competition debuted in the summer of 2010 with a piano competition, followed by a violin competition in 2011, and the competition alternates annually between both instruments.^[2] George Li won the first prize in the first piano competition^[1] and Sirena Huang won first in the first violin competition.^[3]

History

The competition originated as the Oberlin International Festival, first organized by Emeritus Professor Joseph Schwartz in 1985. In 1995, Professor Robert Shannon became the director and the first annual Oberlin International Piano Competition was launched. In 1999, Yeol Eum Son won 1st prize. By the time of its final edition, it gave the winners opportunities to perform with leading orchestras in China, such as the Shanghai Philharmonic.^[4] In 2009, the competition was not held due to renovations of the concert hall. In 2010, a new competition named after sponsors Thomas and Evon Cooper replaced it. Since then, the competition holds its final rounds with the Cleveland Orchestra in Severance Hall.^[5] In 2016, the competition doubled its prizes to a $20,000 first prize.^[6]

Prize winners

Thomas & Evon Cooper International Competition

Year	1st prize	2nd prize	3rd prize	4th prize	5th prize	6th prize
2010 (piano)	George Li	John Chen	Kate Liu	Sahun Hong	Anna Han	Tristan Teo
2011 (violin)	Sirena Huang	Alexandra Switala	Laura Park	Mayumi Kanagawa	Gergana Haralampieva	Kelly Talim
2012 (piano)	Leonardo Colafelice	Xiaoyu Liu	Micah McLaurin	Sahun Hong Annie Zhou	not awarded	Sarina Zhang
2013 (violin)	Ching-Yi Wei Kyumin Park	Ming Liu	not awarded	Gallia Kastner	Jieming Tang	Angela Wee
2014 (piano)	Tony Yike Yang	Zitong Wang	SaeYoon Chon	Gyu Tae Ha	Evren Ozel	Min Jun Lee
2015 (violin)	Gallia Kastner Belle Ting	Joshua Brown	not awarded	Karisa Chiu	Alice Lee	Maya Buchanan
2016 (piano)	Ryota Yamazaki	Evren Ozel	Nathan H. Lee	Chaewon Kim	Andrew Li	Clayton Stephenson

Oberlin International Piano Competition

References

External links

• Official website
• A documentary about the first Cooper International Piano Competition
• A documentary about the first Cooper International Violin Competition