Klein Competition
The Irving M. Klein International String Competition is a music competition held annually in June in San Francisco, California.
The Klein is open to string players between the ages of 15 and 23 who are not under professional management. The competition was founded in 1985 in memory of Irving M. Klein, an acclaimed cellist and educator.
Each of eight or nine semifinalists, selected in a triple-blind review process from among 110 to 130 applicants, performs a 25-minute recital on the first day. The jury panel advances up to four finalists, who play 35-minute programs on the second day. The judges then award top prizes, which include substantial cash prizes and performance contracts. The performances are open to the public at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and are live-streamed worldwide.
Prize Winners
Past winners of the competition:| Year | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | - |
| 2025 | Julia Schilz | Noam Ginsparg | Miles Reed | Elizabeth Poppy Song Joshua Kováč | |
| 2024 | Pearl de la Motte | Amelia Zitoun | Francis Tsai | Hannah Jeong Yeji Lim | |
| 2023 | Emad Zolfaghari | Audrey Goodner | Ray Ushikubo | Blaire Kim Vincent Garcia-Hettinger | |
| 2022 | Gaeun Kim | Jaewon Wee | Andromeda Kepecs | Jacques Forestier Hayoung Choi | |
| 2021 | Yuchen Lu | Grace Huh | William Tan | Ria Honda Serin Isabelle Park | |
| 2020 | Gabrielle Després | Jiaxun Yao | Masha Lakisova | Caroline Durham Dongyoung Shim | |
| 2019 | James Baik | Dakota Cotugno | Julia Mirzoev | Gabriel Polinsky | James Hettinga |
| 2018 | Alex Zhou | Julian Rhee | Isabelle Ai Durrenberger | Sophia Su Jean Kim | |
| 2017 | Jeremy Tai | Zhanbo Zheng | Kyumin Park | ||
| 2016 | William Langlie-Miletich | Coleman Itzkoff | Alina Kobialka | Evin Blomberg | Sarah Hall |
| 2015 | Oliver Herbert | Isabella Perron | Emily Shehi | Erika Gray Ariel Horowitz | |
| 2014 | Zlatomir Fung | Charles Seo | Angela Wee | Luke Hsu Kyumin Park | |
| 2013 | Youjin Lee | Wyatt Underhill | Dana Kelley | Brannon Cho Kevin Lin | |
| 2012 | Austin Huntington | Emma Steele | Alexandra Switala | Jean Kim Natalie Lin | |
| 2011 | Mayumi Kanagawa | Matthew Allen | Ji-Won Song | Daniel Cho Mindy Park | |
| 2010 | Francesca dePasquale | Angelo Xiang Yu | Taeguk Mun | Fabiola Kim Philip Kramp | |
| 2009 | Nikki Chooi | So Jin Kim | Meta Weiss | ||
| 2008 | Tessa Lark | Robin Scott | Ying Xue | Emily Deans | Char Prescott |
| 2007 | Jing Wang | David McCarroll | Madeleine Kabat | Lydia Hong | Alice Yoo |
| 2006 | David Requiro | Yu Jin | Celeste Golden | Song-le Do | Natalia Szadkowski |
| 2005 | Mihai Marica | Tee Khoon Tang | Ilana Setapen | Katherine Eberle | Rachel Harding |
| 2004 | Jung-Min Amy Lee | David Kim | Joshua Roman Yves Dharamraj | Clara Lyon | |
| 2003 | Eric Nowlin | Tao Ni | David Joshua Roman | Katie Hyun | Ayane Kozasa |
| 2002 | Min-Ji Kim | Teng Li | Caroline Campbell | Kathryn Eberle | Adam Barnett-Hart |
| 2001 | Howard Zhang | Teng Li | Eunice Keem | Yvonne Lam | Adam Barnett-Hart |
| 2000 | Angela Fuller | Yoon-Jung Cho | Jun Jensen | Yang Xu | Hannah Jin |
| 1999 | Frank Huang | Madeline Adkins | Lucia Micarelli | Cecilia Lee | John Keigwin |
| 1998 | Denise Djokic | Patrick Jee | Christina Castelli | YonJoo Lee | Hee Guen Song |
| 1997 | Kirsten Johnson | Amy Schwartz | Vivek Kamath | Amir Eldan | Boris Tonkov |
| 1996 | Lisa Kim | Lucasz Szyrner | Alberto Parrini | Jenny Oaks | Margo Tatgenhorst |
| 1995 | Cathy Basrak | Pavel Sporcl | Ani Aznavoorian | Kirsten Johnson | Esther Noh |
| 1994 | François Salque | Nurit Pacht | Serge Oskotsky | Ayako Yoshida | - |
| 1993 | Jennifer Koh | Vadim Gluzman | Julia Tom | Lara St. John | Joanna Kurkowicz |
| 1992 | Mark Kosower | Qi-Xin Pu | Lisa Lee | Owen Lee | Annie Chang |
| 1991 | Jennifer Frautschi | Alexis Gerlach | Brent Samuel | Carol Oh | David Park |
| 1990 | Robert deMaine | Jian-Wen Tong | Joan Kwuon | Misha Keylin | - |
| 1989 | Alyssa Park | Wendy Warner | Alban Gerhardt | ||
| 1988 | Sang Mee Lee | Gianna Abondolo | Richard Hirschl | Eileen Moon | Anne Chalex |
| 1987 | Molly Mo-Lin Fung | Gloria Justen | Hai-Ye Ni | Robin Sharp | |
| 1986 | Stephanie Arado | Sandra Park | Sara Parker | Charles Chandler | Timothy Landauer |