Milan International String Competition
MISC 2026: a new competition
The Milan International String Competition concluded its first live edition featuring the main string instruments.
The 2026 edition
The Milan International String Competition put itself to the test this year with its first live event featuring the main string instrument categories (violin, viola and cello). The competition took place in a Milan on the eve of the Winter Olympics, in a location of great historical value: the Archbishop’s Palace in Via delle Ore, immediately behind Milan Cathedral and the Royal Palace.
Over thirty participants performed before outstanding juries made up of professors:
Dmitri Sitkovesky, Massimo Quarta, Carlo De Martini - Violin
Carlo De Martini, Kerem Brera, Danusha Waśkiewicz - Viola
Robert Cohen, Asier Polo Bilbao, Kerem Brera - Cello
The Purpose of MISC
MISC is a music competition that aims to promote talent in the study of string instruments. It was born from the desire of the two artistic directors, Kerem Brera and Xu Zhen, to offer students from different countries, schools and traditions the opportunity to put themselves to the test in front of internationally renowned juries.
But that’s not all. MISC is more than just a test of technique and maturity: its uniqueness lies in its desire to offer opportunities for people to meet, encouraging both discussion and the creation of collaborations and personal bonds.
Because in the world of professional music, in addition to discipline and talent, passion, curiosity and the ability to cultivate relationships are also needed. MISC aims to create increasingly structured and high-level opportunities to encourage young talents to expand their personal and musical horizons.
After the awards ceremony: MISC continues
Once the awards ceremony is over, MISC offers competitors, as an integral and fundamental part of the experience, an opportunity to receive immediate feedback from the judges, providing participants with information and practical advice to take home after the competition.
The judges emphasise that the feedback session is a valuable opportunity to focus on areas that need further work.
In the same vein, in the days immediately following the event, MISC organises masterclasses with the professors who were part of the jury. This allows participants to put into practice and explore, under the careful guidance of the teachers, the advice received at the end of the competition from some of the greatest instrumentalists on the international scene: a unique opportunity.
The categories and winners of the 2026 edition
For the violin and viola category:
CATEGORY A
First prize: SORA LAVORGNA
Second prize: FLORENCE LAU
Third prize ex aequo: MA XIAOYUN and OU YANG JIN NAN
CATEGORY B
First prize: WU ZHI TONG
Second prize: WANG JIA YE
Third prize: GUILLEM BAVIERA
CATEGORY C
Third prize: ZHANG JIA MING
CATEGORY D
First prize: KAE TANIMURA
Second prize: MARIIA KACHARINA
Third prize: LIU YANG DONG SHENG
For the cello category:
CATEGORY A
First prize: RICCARDO LAGANÀ
CATEGORY B
Second prize: FEDOR MAKSIMOV
Third prize: TIGRAN NAKHALOV
CATEGORY C
First prize: GIOVANNI MACCARINI
Second prize: TOBIAS INGROSSO
Third prize ex aequo: DANIEL POZAS MARTIN and GIOVANNI MELINA
MISC venues
In addition to the aforementioned Palazzo dell’Arcivescovado in Via delle Ore, in the heart of Milan, MISC aims to offer competitors more opportunities each year to discover and explore places in Milan linked to music. This year, the rehearsals took place at the music school and cultural association Il Classico Musica e Arte and the masterclasses at Mamu Magazzino Musica, both long-standing institutions in Milan that promote the study of music and musical culture in all its forms and, in the case of Mamu, also offer music instrument repair, sheet music sales and much more.
MISC 2027
Stay tuned for the next edition of MISC!
The competition aims to continuously improve and expand, offering a structured and engaging experience to competitors: not only a moment of competition, but also an opportunity for growth, connection and exploration of a country with a rich and long history.
See you soon!
MISC Competition photos
The photos from the MISC Competition are available at the following link:
Anyone who would like high-resolution copies can email us at [email protected], indicating the code of the desired photo. We will send it within a few days.