Violin competition concludes with brilliant concerto performances
There could be little doubt that Karisa Chiu displayed an Karisa Chiu, who has local family links unmistakable star quality in her performance of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto Saturday night at Hilbert Circle Theatre. So it's not a matter of "recency bias," I hope, to find me unsurprised that the jury awarded her the gold medal in the twelfth quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Heard and seen live-streamed, with Leonard Slatkin conducting a thoroughly engaged Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, her performance of this perpetual audience favorite concluded the IVCI's concerto finals phase. Less than an hour later, jury president Jaime Laredo announced how each of the finalists placed, from sixth to first. To start with, they are Lina Nakano of Japan, sixth; Yesong Sophie Lee of the United States, fifth; Xunye Zhang of China, fourth, each of whom carries the designation of "laureate." Besides Chiu, the 2026 medalists are Elli Ch...