About

 

Winners - 25th National Schadt String Competition

From left to right: Gaeun Kim (First Prize), Megan Yip (Second Prize & Audience Favorite) & Aaron Wolff (Third Prize) - Photography: Marco Calderon

The Story of the Competition

Edwin H. Schadt (1910-1994) and Leigh W. Schadt (1904-1996) were two brothers who lived in Allentown all their lives. They were the sons of Mary and Henry Schadt, two Allentonians who ran a wholesale grocery business on Front Street in Allentown. Both Leigh and Edwin were born at home in the early 1900s. They lived at 1048 North 11th Street until moving to Luther Crest Retirement Community in the early 1990s. The two boys attended Lincoln School on Walnut Street, went on to prep school at Muhlenberg, and both graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business in the 1920s. The Schadt brothers became successful Allentown businessmen and established Towne Auto Company on Linden Street.

In their youth, Leigh and Edwin were exposed to the violin. Their father was a self-taught violinist and wanted his sons to learn to play the instrument that he loved. Henry commissioned a local craftsman and musician, John Johnson, to make a violin for each of the boys and give them violin lessons. The custom-made violins still exist, and are being used today by young violinists from the Lehigh Valley. Although Leigh and Edwin did not become violinists themselves, they kept their father's interest alive by establishing a trust to provide financial aid to promising young violin students. The trust provides scholarships to area string musicians, sends young musicians to music camps, and underwrites youth concerts. After the Schadts' deaths, the trust provided funding for the Allentown Symphony Association to host the National Schadt String Competition.

The National Schadt String Competition was an annual event for the first 21 years of its 25-year history. It has been a biennual event since 2018.

Begun in 1997 following a bequest to the Allentown Symphony Association from Edwin H. and Leigh W. Schadt, the competition alternates every other year between violin and cello.

The First Prize includes a cash award of $12,000 and a solo concerto engagement with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra during the season following each competition.

The next competition will be held in 2026 - Violin. 

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ON THE NATIONAL SCHADT STRING COMPETITION


 

 

Past Prize Winners

2024 Cello
Gaeun Kim
Megan Yip
Aaron Wolff
 
2022 Violin
Leonard Fu
Shenae Anderson
Russell Iceberg
 
2020 Cello
Gabriel Martins
Nathan Le
Connor Kim
 
2018 VIOLIN
Timothy Chooi
Ania Filochowska 
Hannah Cho
 
2017 GUITAR
Tengyue Zhang
Young Ik Jang
Alec Holcomb 
 
2016 CELLO
Alexander Hersh
Sujin Lee
Noemie Raymond-Friset
 
2015 VIOLIN
Zeyu Victor Li
Clare Semes
Wei Lu
 
2014 GUITAR
Silviu Ciulei
Celil Refi Kaya
Brendan Evans
 
2013 CELLO
Christine Lamprea
Austin Huntington
Sang Yhee
 
2012 VIOLIN
Ji-Won Song
Siwoo Kim
Clara Lyon
 
2011 GUITAR
Petrit Ceku
Benjamin Beirs
Silviu Ciulei
 
2010 CELLO
Jacqueline Choi
Meta Weiss
Matthew Zalkind
 
2009 VIOLIN
SoJin Kim
Hyorim Han
Shih-Kai Lin
 
2008 CLASSICAL GUITAR
Nemanja Ostojic
Andrew Stroud
Benjamin Beirs
 
2007 CELLO
Jonathan Lewis
Paul Dwyer
Alice Yoo
 
2006 VIOLIN
Erin Keefe
Stephanie Jeong
Eunice Keem
 
2005 CLASSICAL GUITAR
Aaron Brock
Randall Avers
David Galvez
 
2004 CELLO
Julia Bruskin
Alice Yoo
Mihai Marica
 
2003 VIOLIN
Angie Cheng
Nelson Lee
Katie Hynn
Wu Jie
 
2002 CLASSICAL GUITAR
Marco Sartor
Aaron Brock
David Galvez
 
2001 CELLO
Efe Baltacigil
Jesus Casto-Balbi
Sharon Bogas
 
2000 VIOLIN
Daniel Kossov
Min-Young Kim
MinJung Kamg
 
1999 CLASSICAL GUITAR
Denis Azabagic
Luis Mantovani
Rene Izquierdo
 
1998 CELLO
Christopher Miroshnikov
Andre Tchekmazov
Clancy Newman
 
1997 VIOLIN
Irina Muresanu
Kun Dong
Judith Ingolfsson