Event

Tertis and Aronowitz Competition Winners Concert

Date

Saturday 4th October 

5pm

Ticket Price 

£10

Tickets are subject to £1.30 booking fee each, this will be added at checkout and capped at maximum booking fee for 5 or more tickets will be £6.50.

Venue

Hartlepool Town Hall Theatre

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Xunyu Zhou, winner of the 2025 Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition, and Sam Rosenthal, winner of the 2025 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, perform a Tertis-inspired programme including works by Bridge, Bowen, Wallen, Ligeti, Britten and Bax, joined by pianist Sophia Rahman. Xunyu hails from China and is studying with Tabea Zimmermann in Frankfurt, whilst Sam from the US is studying at the Kronberg Academy under the tutelage of Nobuko Imai. 

Concert info 

 York Bowen Sonata for viola and piano in c minor op.18 no.1 (26’) 

  • Allegro moderato 
  • Poco lento e cantabile 
  • Finale. Presto 

Benjamin Britten Lachrymae (15’) 

Gyorgy Ligeti Sonata for solo viola  (6’ + 3’) 

  • Hora Lungă 
  • Chaconne chromatique  

XUNYU ZHOU – VIOLA

Xunyu Zhou, born in China in 2007, is currently pursuing her Bachelor’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main under the guidance of Prof. Tabea Zimmermann. In January 2025, she won the First Prize at the Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition. In March of the same year, she won the second Prize at the 10th Johansen International String Competition in Washington, D.C. 

 Her previous awards include the Grand Prize at both the 21st Montelusa Cavai International Youth Music Competition (Italy, 2020) and the 11th Giuseppe Raciti International String Competition (Italy, 2022), as well as a laureate title at the 5th Oskar Nedbal Viola Competition (2023). In 2024, she reached the semi-finals of the prestigious Primrose International Viola Competition. Xunyu has performed with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra under Tang Muhai at the Shanghai Philharmonic Hall (2021). Since 2022, she has been a four-time full-scholarship participant at Morningside Music Bridge. 
 

She studied with Prof. Nian Liu at the Affiliated Middle School of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music from 2017 to 2024. She has also received artistic inspiration through masterclasses with renowned violists such as Hsin-Yun Huang, Roberto Diaz, Lars Anders Tomter, Atar Arad and Tabea Zimmermann 

 INTERVAL 

 Errollyn Wallen  Lavinia (5’) 
 

Arnold Bax Sonata for viola and piano (27’) 

  • Molto moderato-Allegro 
  • Allegro energico, ma non troppo presto 
  • Molto lento 

 

Frank Bridge Allegro Appasionato for viola and piano (3’) 

 SAMUEL ROSENTHAL – VIOLA 

Internationally acclaimed for his generous musical spirit, violist Samuel Rosenthal delights in sharing music with audiences of all ages and collaborating with some of today’s preeminent artists. His performances are recognized for their “intimate, personal approach” (Journal of the American Viola Society) and communicative style “clearly conveying the range of human emotions” (ClevelandClassical.com).  

 First Prize winner at the 2025 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition, Sam was also recipient of the silver medal at the 2021 Primrose International Viola Competition. Other awards and recognitions include major prizes at the Johansen International Competition and, as a member of the Razumovsky String Quartet, at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. 
 

Sam began his musical studies in Cleveland, and continued his viola studies with Jeffrey Irvine as a member of the Young Artist Program at the Cleveland Institute of Music. His passion for chamber music was ignited by formative work with the Cavani String Quartet and Cleveland Quartet violinist Peter Salaff. Since 2016, he has been a member of the Perlman Music Program community as a student at both the Summer Music School and the Chamber Music Workshop. His time at PMP involved transformative travel residencies to Sarasota, Palm Beach, and Tel Aviv, Israel.  

 Chamber music plays a central part in Sam’s musical life. Since 2023, he has attended the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont, where he had the opportunity to perform and collaborate with its legendary roster of extraordinary artists. Sam has been invited to perform at a variety of celebrated chamber music festivals across the United States and abroad including Kronberg Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World, Chamberfest Cleveland, Musique de Chambre en Normandie, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire, and Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute. In 2024, he performed at the Schiermonnikoog Festival in the Netherlands, where he received the Audience Prize. 
 

Sam is a graduate of the Juilliard School where he had the honor of studying with Heidi Castleman, Misha Amory, and Hsin-Yun Huang and was a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship. He is currently studying at the Kronberg Academy under the tutelage of Nobuko Imai. These studies are funded by the Annika and Wolfgang Fink Patronage. His studies of viola and chamber music have also included work with