Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition Names Recipients Of Isaac Stern Award

Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition (SISIVC) Organisers today announced two recipients of the Isaac Stern - Human Spirit Award: Kayhan Kalhor and the Xiaoshuijing Miao Farmers Choir.

Kayhan Kalhor has a wide range of musical influences, uses several musical instruments, and crosses cultural borders with his work, but at his center he is an intense player of the Iranian violin. In his playing Kalhor often pins Iranian classical music structures to the rich folk modes and melodies of the Kurdish tradition of Iran.

The Xiaoshuijing Miao Farmers Choir is a four-part chorus group. None of the members have received any professional training, and their singing methods and techniques have been passed down from generation to generation through word of mouth. Their performances are imbued with not only western traditional Bel Canto elements, but also with unique original ethnic characteristics.

The Isaac Stern - Human Spirit Award has taken its name from Stern to commemorate the human spirit that infused every single thread of his extraordinary career. In solemn recognition of Isaac Stern's musical illumination of humanity, the $10,000 USD 'Isaac Stern Award' was created to award an individual or group - in any field and from any part of the world - who is deemed to have made an outstanding contribution to our understanding of humanity through the medium of music. These prizes will be awarded to the laureate selected by the president of the competition's organisation committee Long Yu, Yo-Yo Ma by special invitation, and members of the Stern family. Previous winners of the Isaac Stern Prize include Taixiang Wu and Zhengquan Du of The Einstein Orchestra (China) and Negin Khpalwak (Afghanistan) - awarded at the inaugural Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition in 2016.

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