Read more news stories here
The ensembles competing in the chamber music division of the 2025 Schoenfeld International String Competition in Harbin, China, have been announced. The groups are:
Trio Archai
Mar Valor (Spain, 25)
Ayla Sahin (Germany, 26)
Finn Mannion (Ireland, 23)
Trio Azura
Duncan McDougall (Canada, 23)
Yejin Hong (Korea, 28)
Yanfeng (Tony) Bai (China, 27)
Berlinsky Quartet
Dennis Gasanov (Russia, 30)
Pavel Romanenko (Kazakhstan, 33)
Fedor Kalashnikov (Russia, 28)
Mikhail Kalashnikov (UK, 34)
Dynamis Piano Quartet
Marco Norzi (Italy, 34)
Margherita Fanton (Italy, 33)
Roberto Mansueto (Italy, 35)
Marta Puig (Spain, 33)
Gallant Quartet
Gengyao Wang (China, 28)
Diguang Chen (China, 28)
Yanlin Li (China, 28)
Kaituo Liu (China, 29)
Quartetto Goldberg
Jingzhi Zhang (China, 24)
Giacomo Lucato (Italy, 27)
Matilde Simionato (Italy, 28)
Martino Simionato (Italy, 30)
Trio Havisham
Magdalena Riedl (Austria, 26)
Seth Collin (UK, 23)
Zany Denyer (UK, 25)
The Horseman Quartet
Junyu Yi (China, 20)
MAI, Enze Mai (China, 19)
DENG, Zixuan Deng (China, 19)
HAO, Haoran Hao (China, 19)
Mila Quartet
Ke Zhu (China, 30)
Huan Ci (China, 31)
Zhangjuan Liu (China, 32)
Yanyan Lin (China, 30)
The chamber music division is open to piano trios, piano quartets and string quartets. The ensembles are competing for a first prize of $20,000. Other prizes include a $10,000 second prize, $5,000 third prize, $3,000 fourth prize, $2,000 fifth prize, and the prize for the best performance of a work by Beethoven, worth $2,000.
The final round will take place on 21 July in Harbin. The ensembles will play a complete chamber work from the Classical period, one movement from a chamber work of the Romantic period and one movement of a chamber work from either the 20th century or composed after 1950.

In The Best of Technique you’ll discover the top playing tips of the world’s leading string players and teachers. It’s packed full of exercises for students, plus examples from the standard repertoire to show you how to integrate the technique into your playing.

In the second volume of The Strad’s Masterclass series, soloists including James Ehnes, Jennifer Koh, Philippe Graffin, Daniel Hope and Arabella Steinbacher give their thoughts on some of the greatest works in the string repertoire. Each has annotated the sheet music with their own bowings, fingerings and comments.

The Canada Council of the Arts’ Musical Instrument Bank is 40 years old in 2025. This year’s calendar celebrates some its treasures, including four instruments by Antonio Stradivari and priceless works by Montagnana, Gagliano, Pressenda and David Tecchler.