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Announcing the 2024-27 Bowers Program and 2022 Stoeger Prize

May 11, 2023

New York, NY, May 11, 2023 — The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) announces the nine individual artists and one ensemble selected for The Bowers Program, a highly competitive threeseason residency in which participants perform, tour, and teach alongside CMS artists. CMS also announces composer Chris Rogerson as winner of the Elise L. Stoeger Prize, which is awarded to recognize significant contributions to the field of chamber music composition. The Bowers Program and Stoeger Prize reflect CMS’s ongoing support and development of chamber music artists and composers throughout their careers, on stage and off.

The Bowers Program, Class of 2024-2027

This year’s participants in The Bowers Program were chosen from an international pool of 168 candidates through competitive auditions. The nine individual artists and one ensemble, who hail from seven countries (including the USA), range in age from 22 to 32 and are award winners and recipients of the world’s most prestigious classical music honors for young musicians, including the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Van Cliburn Competition, Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Verbier, Elmar Oliveira Competition, and the Banff International String Quartet Competition, among many others. These award-winning artists, on instruments ranging from oboe to double bass, have chosen to participate in The Bowers Program to focus their careers on chamber music performed at the highest level.

The artists chosen for The Bowers Program for the next three seasons are (name, age, instrument, and country of origin provided in this list; short bios can be found at the end of this section of the release):

  • Nina Bernat, 22, double bass, (USA) | 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient
  • Sterling Elliott, 23, cello (USA) | 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient
  • Anna Geniushene, 32, piano (Russia) | 2022 Silver Medalist, Van Cliburn International Piano Competition
  • Sahun Sam Hong, 28, piano (South Korea) | 2017 Vendome Prize winner at Verbier, 2021 American Pianists Award recipient
  • Lun Li, 27, violin (China) | 2021 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions First Prize winner
  • Evren Ozel, 24, piano (USA) | 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient
  • Julian Rhee, 22, violin (USA) | 2020 Elmar Oliveira International Competition First Prize winner
  • Jonathan Swensen, 26, cello (Denmark) | 2022 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient
  • Juri Vallentin, 32, oboe (Germany) | 2019 International Tchaikovsky Competition prizewinner as first oboist
  • Viano Quartet: Lucy Wang, 26, violin (Canada); Hao Zhou, 26, violin (USA); Aiden Kane, 27, viola (USA); Tate Zawadiuk, 25, cello (Canada) | 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition first prize winner

“Each musician who makes it to the Bowers auditions finals is at the top of their game. While it is enormously inspiring to hear such playing, the uniformly high level makes it all the more difficult to arrive at conclusions,” remarked CMS Artistic Directors Wu Han and David Finckel. “This is where our incomparable jury comes in: their dedication, sensitivity, discretion, and wisdom make it possible for us to name the eventual winners, and this year our new roster of Bowers artists received enthusiastic, positive votes from the entire panel. The CMS audience has a real treat in store, and we offer these extraordinary young players our heartiest congratulations and warmest welcome.”

Download The Press Release