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, and is one of the most prestigious competitions for young musicians in the world. It is sponsored by Thomas and Evon Cooper and is presented jointly by the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Cleveland Orchestra. The competition is for young musicians 13–18 years of age and awards more than $35,000 in prize money, with a first prize of $20,000. 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. George Li won the first prize in the first piano competition and Sirena Huang won first in the first violin competition.

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. 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. In 2016, the competition doubled its prizes to a $20,000 first prize.

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
2017 (violin)	Johan Dalene	Christina Jihee Nam Qing Yu Chen	not awarded	Zachary Brandon	Maya Anjali Buchanan	Kiarra Saito-Beckman
2018 (piano)	Tony Siqi Yun	Kai-Min Chang	Yunchan Lim	Ryan Zhu	William Chen	William Yang
2019 (violin)	Eric Charles Chen	Shihan Wang	Isabella Brown	Jin Yucheng	Yiyang Hou	Enrique Rodrigues

Oberlin International Piano Competition

Year	1st Prize	2nd Prize	3rd Prize	4th Prize	5th Prize	6th Prize
1995		Gloria Chien
1996
1997
1998	Hyo-Sun Lim
1999	Yeol Eum Son	Marko Pavlovic
2000	Ying Li	Tian Tian	Esther Park
2001	Darret Zusko	Eun Taek Kim Ji Yeon Shin
2002	Jung Lim Kim	Jeanette Fang	Martin Leung
2003	Rachel Naomi Kudo	Kevin Kordi	Ye Jin Lee	Sarah Oh	Kei Neidra
2004	Wang Da	Sejoon Park	Sun-A Park	Kei Neidra Hyo Kyun Shin	Ying Cheng Yang
2005	Ruoyu Huang	Sun-A Park	Fangzhou Feng	Hanmo Qian	Vicki Ning Wang
2006	Rui (Ellen) Wang
2007	Yuqing Meng	Minsoo Hong	Yunqing Zhou	Xiao Pei Xu	Chai Yu Jen	John Choi
2008	Junle Li	George Fu	Wanting Zhao	Eunjin Bang	Jae Young Kim	Dong June Kim

External links

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