October 20, 2026
For Immediate Release
Contact: Susan Barbash, Competition Coordinator
info@jsbachcompetition.org
Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition awards Grand Prize to baroque violinist Danqi Zeng
On October 16, 2026, baroque violinist Danqi Zeng was awarded the Grand Prize at the
2025 Lillian and Maurice Barbash J.S. Bach Competition. In addition to receiving a cash
award of $10,000, Zeng will be the featured soloist at the Island Symphony Bach Festival, which will be held on January 24, 2027, in Bay Shore, New York. She will also be offered paid engagements with the Washington Bach Consort, Amor Artis, GEMS, and The Bach Choir of Bethlehem.
Violinist Coco Mi won second prize and a cash prize of $2,500.
The 2025 Jury included violist Kim Kashkashian, violinist Renée Jolles, gamba and
musicologist Kenneth Slowik, cellist Colin Carr, and harpsichordist Arthur Haas.
Born in Guangzhou, China, Danqi Zeng plays both the modern and baroque violin, and has won multiple competitions, including the Concerto Competition at Cincinnati Conservatory of Music (2016, 2018), the 2020 MASTA Solo Competition, the 2020 MTNA Michigan Young Artist Competition, and the Historical Performance Institute Vivaldi Competition at Indiana University in 2024 (baroque violin). Most recently, Danqi won the Saint-Georges Violin Concerto Competition in 2024 and the Stravinsky Violin Concerto Competition in 2025 at IU.
Danqi has performed as a soloist with CCM Concert Orchestra, CCM Philharmonia,
Starling Orchestra, and IU Baroque Orchestra. She served as Concertmaster of the
University Philharmonia Orchestra at the University of Michigan and the CCM Concert Orchestra for multiple seasons.
Currently, Danqi is pursuing a Doctor of Music degree in Violin under Professor Mauricio Fuks and a second Doctor of Music degree in Historical Performance (Baroque Violin) under Prof. Ingrid Matthews at IU, where she serves as a Music Theory Associate Instructor. Danqi also studies Viola da Gamba (Treble Viol and Pardessus de viole) with Prof. Joanna Blendulf at IU. She completed an MM in Violin Performance and an MM in Chamber Music from the University of Michigan and a BM from the University of Cincinnati.
Established in 2019, the Barbash Bach Competition was established to honor the memory of arts advocates Lillian and Maurice Barbash. Past competition winners include violinists Rachell Ellen Wong, Lun Li, and double bassist, Nina Bernat.
Said juror cellist Colin Carr, “Since its inception Barbash Competition has steadily grown in stature. It is with pleasure, and pride, that we at Stony Brook University host what has now become a major event, attracting well over a hundred applicants from all over the world.”