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The Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition has announced the 18 semi-finalists for its 7th edition, which will take place in Prague, Czech Republic, from 23 to 26 October 2025.
This year, the competition received a record-breaking 115 applications from 35 countries worldwide. The first round was held via pre-recorded video submissions, from which the jury selected 18 young violists to advance to the live semi-final stage in Prague.
The 2025 semi-finalists are (in alphabetical order):
1. Rodrigo Agudelo Celda (Spain/UK)
2. Diego Alvarado Sánchez (Venezuela)
3. Carla Guillén García (Spain)
4. Sara Furuichi (Japan)
5. Elena Küssner (Germany/Sweden)
6. Jiwon Kim (South Korea)
7. Ayano Nakamura (USA/Japan)
8. Ella Eunsuh Park (USA/South Korea)
9. Junhao Peng (China)
10. Davis Sliecans (Latvia)
11. Marvin Stark (Germany)
12. Julie Svačinová (Finland)
13. Guohan Tang (China)
14. Kyrillos Volkov (Greece)
15. Julia Wawrowska (Poland)
16. Mingyue Yu (China)
17. Zihan Zhang (China)
18. Xunyu Zhou (China)
Open to violists of all nationalities up to the age of 30, the competition offers a total prize pool of CZK125,000 (£4,400). In addition to financial awards, laureates will receive valuable prizes including a fine viola bow by Luboš Odlas, GEWA viola cases, Pirastro strings, rosin and Korfker Rest, as well as concert engagements.
While the first round was completed remotely, both the semi-final and final rounds will be held live in Prague. In the final, the selected candidates will perform a concerto by either Carl Stamitz or Franz Anton Hoffmeister, accompanied by the ensemble Barocco sempre giovane.
The 2025 international jury will be chaired by Garth Knox (Ireland) and comprises competition founder and artistic director Kristina Fialová (Czech Republic), Lena Eckels (Germany), Asbjørn Nørgaard (Denmark) and Jan Pěruška (Czech Republic).
Last year’s edition was won by Seoyeon Ryu, with Momoko Aritomi and Brian Isaacs receiving second and third place respectively.
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