Richard Lin wins gold medal at the 2018 Indianapolis violin competition

Richard Lin has won the 10th Quadrennial International Violin Competition, one of the world's biggest awards for violinists who are launching careers that will take them to major stages across the globe. 

The competition announced the gold medalist Saturday at Hilbert Circle Theatre, and judges selected Lin after three rounds of performances over 17 grueling days. The reward? A Carnegie Hall recital debut, $30,000 and a recording contract. Lin also has the option to use for four years the Stradivarius violin worth millions that virtuoso Josef Gingold played.

Lin can add this award to several others so far in his young career. Prior to winning the Indianapolis competition, he has won top prizes internationally, including at the Hannover, Sendai, Singapore, Wieniawski, Shanghai and Michael Hill violin competitions.

Of the six finalists — called laureates — Risa Hokamura won the silver medal, and Luke Hsu won the bronze. Anna Lee, Ioana Cristina Goicea and Shannon Lee placed fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

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The top three finishers win career management and concerts booked for them around the world and the opportunity to use newly made 21st-century violins until the next competition, which is in 2022. Since the contest's inception in 1982, winners have gone on to successful careers as soloists, chamber musicians and concertmasters of major orchestras around the world. Combined, the six laureates receive more than $250,000 worth of prizes.

Here's a look at how the competition was narrowed down to the six finalists, a little about their backgrounds, who was on the jury panel and who made the 21st-century violins that will be loaned out to the medalists.

How does the Indianapolis violin competition work?

Forty of the best violinists between ages 16 and 29 were chosen to participate in the 2018 contest. They traveled from 13 countries to play in the preliminary round that began Sept. 2. A few days later, a panel of judges whittled the pool down to 16 and then to the six who would become the laureates. The first two rounds took place at the Indiana History Center.

The final rounds determined the ranking of the six. At Butler University's Schrott Center for the Arts, the contestants each played a concerto by W.A. Mozart and a piece by Kreisler. On Friday and Saturday nights at Hilbert Circle Theatre, the finalists performed concertos by Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Bruch and others from the composers' eras with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Conductor Leonard Slatkin, the internationally renowned six-time Grammy winner and music director laureate of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, led the group.

It all adds up to hours of music, which is not only physically demanding but mentally taxing. Practicing by themselves or in empty concert halls doesn't equate to what it will feel like filled with people, Slatkin said.

"What does change: The presence of an audience is a physical difference. But there's also, because of the presence of the audience, a big acoustical difference," Slatkin said. "The sound on the stage is going to be a bit drier, meaning it may not be as reverberative as it is without people in the hall. But the violinists won't know that until they start playing at the concert."

For his part, he worked with the soloists individually to make them feel comfortable playing with the Indianapolis symphony.

"Their job is to walk out and only have one goal — even at a competition. And that is to satisfy themselves," Slatkin said. "And the reason for that is that you cannot get into the head of (each) member of the jury. You can't do it. You can't predict what they're listening for."

Who are the Indianapolis competition winners?

Gold medalist: Richard Lin

Lin, 27, was born in Arizona and grew up in Taiwan. He began studying the violin at age 4 and went on to earn his bachelor's degree from the Curtis Institute of Music and his master's from The Julliard School.

Along with the prizes Lin has won, he has performed as guest concertmaster with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta.

At the Indianapolis competition: During his finals performance Wednesday, Lin appeared relaxed and smiling, immediately connecting with the audience. The lighthearted characters in Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major came through in every bow stroke as he dialed into the tone of the accompanying East Coast Chamber Orchestra.

Silver medalist: Risa Hokamura 

The youngest finalist, Hokamura, 17, was born in Tokyo and began studying the violin when she was 3 years old. She's a student at the Tokyo College of Music High School, and her accomplishments include winning first prize at the Junior Classical Music Competition and Student Music Concours of Japan.

At the Indianapolis competition: Hokamura produced a finessed, full sound for Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5 on Wednesday. As her program progressed, she opened up, releasing more emotion into her playing in the Mozart's third movement and Kreisler's "Tambourin chinois."

Bronze medalist: Luke Hsu 

Hsu, 28, lists performing for royalty on his resume — specifically His Royal Highness The Earl of Wessex Prince Edward and Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of Belgium, according to the biography on his website. The American has studied his instrument at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University and New England Conservatory. Hsu also has performed on national radio in Canada, the U.S. and Denmark.

As a soloist, he's played with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio, among others. As a chamber musician, he has worked with instrumentalists from the New York Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

At the Indianapolis competition: On stage Monday in the semifinals at the Indiana History Center, Hsu brought a no-holds-barred gusto to the bluesy movement of Ravel's Sonata in G major. He channeled that energy into nuanced performances during a program with improvisatory, Baroque-feeling segments from a newly composed piece by William Bolcom.  

Fourth place: Anna Lee

Anna Lee, 23, took over major stages just a few years after she learned to walk. The American began studying the violin at age 4 in Singapore and two years later, she performed Paganini's first violin concerto with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. After that, her family moved to the U.S. Lee has taken lessons at The Juilliard School's Pre-College Division and the Germany-based Kronberg Academy for gifted musicians.

She has already checked performing with the New York Philharmonic, Park Avenue Chamber Orchestra and at Carnegie Hall off her bucket list. Conducting is on her radar as well; she has led the Peoria Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

At the Indianapolis competition: Lee took command of the room from the first note of Mendelssohn's Concerto in E Minor for Violin and Orchestra. She brought a transfixing emotional maturity beyond her years, especially to the stormier moments.

Fifth place: Ioana Cristina Goicea 

Goicea, 25, has studied at the Universities in Music in Hannover, Leipzig and Rostock. She has won first prize at New Zealand's Michael Hill International Violin Competition, German Music Competition and Austria's Johannes Brahms Competition. Goicea, who is from Romania, has soloed with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, Baden-Baden Philharmonic and Romanian Radio National Orchestra, among others.

As a chamber musician, she has performed with the "New Masters On Tour" concert series at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and at the Slovak Philharmonic. She also has worked with renowned violinist Pinchas Zuckerman at the Verbier Festival Academy.

At the Indianapolis competition: Goicea brought a deep emotional intensity to her performance in Wednesday's final round, delivering a fresh interpretation of Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 5, even though she was third in a row to play it that evening. For Kreisler's "La Gitana," she unleashed a powerful, velvety sound.

Sixth place: Shannon Lee

Canadian-born Shannon Lee, 26, began taking violin lessons at age 4 in Plano, Texas. She debuted as a soloist with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at age 12 and in Europe with Germany's Nuremburg Philharmonic Orchestra at age 14. Lee went on to earn a bachelor's degree in computer science at Columbia University, a graduate diploma at the Curtis Institute of Music and will begin her master's degree in violin performance at the Cleveland Institute of Music in the fall. 

Lee has recorded an album of work by Wieniawski, Kreisler, Ernst, and Bazzini. Earlier this year, she won first place at the Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota Competition, and she has performed at several festivals, including Music@Menlo and Banff Masterclasses. 

At the Indianapolis competition: On Saturday, Shannon Lee pulled a varied color palette out of the lower, darker register of her instrument for Walton’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. She especially came alive during its energetic Presto movement. 

Who are the jury panelists?

Jury president Jaime Laredo studied with Gingold, who founded the competition, and has gone on to become an in-demand teacher and to perform as a conductor, soloist and chamber musician with the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. Other jury members include:

• Pamela Frank, Avery Fisher Prize winner, soloist and chamber musician;
• Rodney Friend, who in 1964 became the youngest concertmaster ever for the London Philharmonic;
• Dong-Suk Kang, who has collaborated with conductors Yehudi Menuhin and Esa-Pekka Salonen;
• Cho-Liang Lin, the music director of La Jolla SummerFest and the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival; 
• Mihaela Martin, the first-ever gold medalist for the Indianapolis competition;
• Dmitry Sitkovetsky, known for his orchestra and string trio versions of the Goldberg Variations;
• Arnold Steinhardt, a founding member of the renowned Guarneri String Quartet; and
• Kyoko Takezawa, whose solo career has led her to perform with major orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

New 21st-century violins for medalists

The Indianapolis competition also announced that it has purchased two violins for medalists to use for four years. 

The winners were made by Paul Crowley of Brooklyn and Philip Ihle of London.

After putting out a call for 21st-century instruments, it chose the instruments from a pool of 45 made by luthiers in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. A panel of violinists "blind-tested" the fiddles using dark goggles in a dark room to gain a sense of their sound and make their recommendations.

Call IndyStar reporter Domenica Bongiovanni at 317-444-7339. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.