The 2025 Geneva International Music Competition (Concours de Genève) concluded on 12 November at Victoria Hall, where Sarah Strohm (20, Switzerland) and Brian Isaacs (25, United States) were awarded First Prize ex aequo in the viola competition. Ayaka Taniguchi (23, Japan) received Second Prize. The final took place with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under the direction of Cornelius Meister.
All three finalists first performed Léo Albisetti’s Nouvel Élan for viola and chamber orchestra as the compulsory work, and then a concerto of their choice. Sarah Strohm and Ayaka Taniguchi played Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto (Bartók/Dellamaggiore), while Brian Isaacs chose Paul Hindemith’s Der Schwanendreher.
Sarah Strohm was born in Geneva and currently lives in Paris. She studied at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève with Noémie Bialobroda and continues her training at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris with Jean Sulem. Before Geneva, she received Second Prize at the International Johannes Brahms Competition 2021 in Austria, First Prize at the Valiant Forum Competition 2023 in Switzerland, and an Honorary Mention and Special Prize at the Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition 2023 in the Czech Republic.
Brian Isaacs was born in New York and is based in Berlin. He has studied with Tabea Zimmermann at the Kronberg Academy and the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt, with Sebastian Krunnies at the Karajan-Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker, and with Ettore Causa at Yale University. His recent distinctions include Second Prize and all special prizes at the Max Rostal International Viola Competition 2024, Third Prize at the Markneukirchen International Viola Competition 2025, and Third Prize plus the Martinů Prize at the Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition 2024.
Ayaka Taniguchi, 23, completed the podium with Second Prize and received several special distinctions at Geneva, including the Fondation Etrillard Prize, the Hindemith Prize for the best performance of a work by Hindemith, and the Odyssée Frank Martin Prize, which includes a performance of Frank Martin’s Ballade for viola and orchestra with the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève under Thierry Fischer at Victoria Hall on 14 June 2026.
The official prizes of the competition are set at CHF 20,000 for First Prize, CHF 12,000 for Second Prize, and CHF 8,000 for Third Prize, with support from the Fondation Francis & Marie-France Minkoff. In addition, the Rose-Marie Huguenin Prize provides CHF 10,000 to all viola laureates as a personal grant for artistic projects. Further special prizes this year included the Audience Prize, Young Audience Prize, Students’ Prize, OSR Musicians’ Prize, Société des Arts Prize, and Concerts de Jussy Prize, most of them awarded to Sarah Strohm, as well as a Chamber Music Prize for Alessandra Yang (21). The laureates also receive support from Pirastro Strings.
The 2025 viola edition of the Concours de Genève took place in Geneva from 4 to 12 November. Following a video preselection, 38 candidates were invited, with rounds including an online recital, solo and chamber music semi-finals, and an artistic project round held at the Conservatoire de Genève before the final at Victoria Hall. The official jury was chaired by violist Tabea Zimmermann and included Tomoko Akasaka, Ettore Causa, Cynthia Phelps, Pauline Sachse, Jean Sulem and German Tcakulov.
The Concours de Genève is an international competition based in Geneva with rotating disciplines, which currently include conducting, viola and composition, and offers career-development opportunities such as workshops and prizewinners’ concerts following the competition.
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