A couple of weeks ago, Music News featured S.F. State's Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Seminar and Festival; now let's turn to the Menuhin International Violin Competition, held this week in Austin, Texas — and still finding a local angle.
San Francisco's Alex Zhou, 12, whose young career has been chronicled in SFCV, is a finalist in the Menuhin Junior Division. He joins 41 other young violinists from 30 countries to compete for prizes before an international jury panel of acclaimed musicians. Follow the competition streamed live.
Last held in Beijing, the Menuhin Competition, the only violin competition held in a different country every two years, has set a new record by attracting 60% more entries this year from young competitors, ages 10 to 22.
Alex, who grew up in San Jose, and now studies at the San Francisco Conservatory, is an accomplished violinist and gifted pianist. He started playing the piano at age 5 and the violin at age 6. At age 8, Alex debuted at Carnegie Hall. Watch his performance of Bach's Partita No. 6.
San Francisco's Kevin Zhu, who won 1st prize in 2012 in Beijing at age 11, and who has since debuted in London with the Philharmonia Orchestra, performed at the opening concert of the Menuhin Competition in Austin last Friday, sharing the stage with this year’s jury members Olivier Charlier and Ilya Gringolts.