The Young Tchaikovsky Competition

This September, cellist Johannes Gray, age 15, competed in The Young Tchaikovsky Competition, the largest international competition for cellists, violinists and pianists 17 years and younger.  Affiliated with the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition, finalists from The Young Tchaikovsky Competition automatically advance to the next International Tchaikovsky Competition. This year, the Young Tchaikovsky competition was held from September 4-15, in the heart of Europe, Montreux-Vevey Switzerland--the place where Tchaikovsky wrote his famous violin concerto.  The Competition is supported by Vaud Canton Government and Ministry of Culture (Bundesamt für Kultur).  The first, second, and third prize winners receive special recommendation from the Association of Tchaikovsky Competition Stars to advance to the senior section without the preliminary procedure.

Congratulations to Johannes, who advanced from an original field of 46 competitors to the second round, one of 23 selected.

About Johannes Gray

Johannes Gray, has been an active member of the Music Institute of Chicago, studying for the past 11 years with MIC’s artist faculty members Hans Jørgen Jensen and Gilda Barston.  He debuted with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at 14, as winner of the 2011 Crain-Maling Foundation Chicago Symphony Orchestra Youth Auditions.  Honored to be one of 46 cellists from around the world invited to participate in the Tchaikovsky competition, he is no stranger to performance and competition and is an active soloist and chamber musician. Johannes has played for many of today’s leading cellists including Aldo Parisot, Amit Peled, Anthony Elliot, David Finckel, Janos Starker, Laurence Lesser, Lynn Harrell, Ralph Kirshbaum, Robert Nagy, Timothy Eddy, Wendy Warner, and Yo-Yo Ma. For the last two summers, Johannes participated in the Young Performers Program at Music@Menlo in Menlo Park, California under the direction of David Finckel and Wu Han. This summer, Johannes attended Ivan Galamian’s Meadowmount School of Music located in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York.