Watch Kevin Zhu, the 20-year-old violinist and 2021 Avery Fischer Grant recipient, perform two movements from Béla Bartók’s Sonata for Solo Violin, Sz. 117: I. Tempo di ciaccona and IV. Presto.

Kevin first started to gain recognition after winning the 2018 Paganini Competition and 2012 Yehudi Menuhin Competition. He now regularly performs at some of the world’s most iconic venues, ranging from Carnegie Hall in New York to London’s Royal Festival Hall to the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. Kevin is also a recipient of the Kovner Fellowship at the Juilliard School, where he studies with Itzhak Perlman and Li Lin. He performs on the c. 1722 “Lord Wandsworth” Antonio Stradivari violin, which is on loan from the Ryuji Ueno Foundation and Rare Violins In Consortium, Artists and Benefactors Collaborative.


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