Congratulations to our laureates Stephen Waarts, Chad Hoopes & the Dover Quartet’s Joel Link, all of whom have been awarded Avery Fisher Career Grants!

Joel was the winner of the Junior 1st Prize at the Menuhin Competition London 2004, Chad won the Junior 1st Prize at the Menuhin Competition Cardiff 2008 and Stephen won the Junior 2nd Prize in Oslo 2010 and then went on to win the Senior 1st Prize in Austin 2014. Check out the photos featured here from the 2004, 2008 and 2010 programme books.

The Avery Fisher Program, administered by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, has been recognized as one of the most prestigious in the music world, and instrumentalists continue to treasure both the Prize and the Career Grants. The Avery Fisher Career Grants began in 1976, and have been received early in their careers by artists such as the Chair of the Menuhin Competition jury Pamela Frank as well as Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Richard Stoltzman, Gil Shaham and Sarah Chang, all of whom subsequently became Avery Fisher Prize recipients, alongside Ursula Oppens, Anthony McGill, Demarre McGill, Augustin Hadelich, Yuja Wang and George Li, among dozens of others.

Artists do not apply directly for these awards and have no idea they are even under consideration. A Recommendation Board, comprising conductors, instrumentalists, music educators, composers, managers, and presenters, nominates artists for the Career Grants. An Executive Committee makes final Career Grant selections and also chooses recipients for The Avery Fisher Prize. The Avery Fisher Artist Program is committed to all forms of diversity, with award recipients being chosen based on outstanding musical merit.

Read all about Stephen, Chad and Joel’s reactions to being awarded this honour on the Violin Channel here and find out more about the Avery Fisher Artist Program here.