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Emad Zolfaghari has been crowned the winner of the 2024 Primrose International Viola Competition.
The 19-year-old from Oakville, Ont. studies at the Curtis Institute of Music where he is the co-principal viola of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra.
The prize includes $15,000 as well as invitations to perform at the 2026 American Viola Society Festival and to participate in the semi-finals of the Concert Artists Guild Competition.
The Primrose is described as "one of the most renowned string instrument competitions in the world, the Primrose International Viola Competition features the world’s best and most promising young violists."
The recent award is just the latest in a long string of prestigious awards, including the 2022 Johansen International String Competition, and the François Schubert Grand Prize at the 2022 OMNI Music Competition.
According to his bio at the Curtis Institute, Zolfaghari has "appeared as a soloist with several major symphony orchestras, including l’Orchestre Métropolitain at the Maison Symphonique in Montréal under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in Roy Thomson Hall, the National Philharmonic in Strathmore Hall, the Oakville Chamber Orchestra, and the National Metropolitan Philharmonic."
Kinga Wojdalska took home Second Prize as well as the Transcriptions Prize, and Andy Park won Third Prize. The Illumination Prize went to Mao Konishi.
The competition took place at the Colburn School in Los Angeles from June 17 through 22.