The 12th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis (IVCI) has just awarded its Gold Medal to 27-year-old violinist Karisa Chiu from the United States.
Karisa Chiu will receive a cash prize of $75,000, a Carnegie Hall recital debut, a CD recording contract, and website development and maintenance.
25-year-old Elli Choi from the United States received the Silver Medal and $30,000, while the Bronze Medal and $15,000 went to 18-year-old Aozhe Zhang from China.
The Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medalists receive the invaluable prize of career management and international concert engagements for four years.
Xunyue Zhang, Yesong Sophie Lee, and Lina Nakano won Fourth ($10,000), Fifth ($8,000), and Sixth Place ($6,000), respectively.
All laureates will receive the opportunity to use one of several concert instruments in the IVCI collection, including the 1683 “ex-Gingold” Stradivari violin, until the next Quadrennial Competition in 2030.
(PC: Denis Ryan Kelly Jr.)
The competition was streamed LIVE on The Violin Channel and is available to watch here.
The 2026 jury comprised Jury President Jaime Laredo, David Chan, Jinjoo Cho, Pamela Frank, Yuzuko Horigome, Bella Hristova, Dong-Suk Kang, Cho-Liang Lin, and Svetlin Roussev.
All Special Prizes will be announced tomorrow, October 4.
Karisa Chiu began violin studies at the age of two with her father, Cornelius Chiu, a violinist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She later earned degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Currently, she is pursuing an Artist Diploma at the Juilliard School, studying with Catherine Cho and Donald Weilerstein. Her preceding mentors include Jaime Laredo, Malcolm Lowe, Ida Kavafian, and Almita Vamos.
Karisa Chiu gained international recognition after winning the 2021 Isangyun Violin Competition and is a top prize winner at the Singapore, Menuhin, Leopold Mozart, and Irving M. Klein Competitions.
As the recipient of the 2025 Gerschen Cohen Award, she will make her Carnegie Hall recital debut in Weill Hall in spring 2026.
She has performed at other major venues such as Severance Hall, Seoul Arts Center, Alice Tully Hall, and Germany’s Casals Forum, and with orchestras such as the Munich Radio Orchestra, Spokane Symphony, Tongyeong Festival Orchestra, and Asheville Symphony.
A finalist in Cedille Records’ 2021 Emerging Artist Competition, violinist Karisa Chiu’s lasting impression on the record label led to the release of her debut album, “Home,” with pianist Zhu Wang. Chiu was the first new solo violinist to record for Cedille in over 20 years.