National Schadt String Competition
Edwin H. Schadt (1910–1994) and Leigh W. Schadt (1904–1996) were lifelong Allentown residents and successful businessmen who founded Towne Auto Company. Sons of Mary and Henry Schadt, they grew up at 1048 North 11th Street and attended Lincoln School, Muhlenberg Prep, and the Wharton School of Business.
Their father, a self-taught violinist, had custom violins made for them and arranged lessons, though neither pursued a musical career. To honor their father’s passion, they established a trust supporting young violinists through scholarships, music camps, and youth concerts.
After their passing, the trust funded the National Schadt String Competition, launched in 1997 by the Allentown Symphony Association. Initially annual for 21 years, it became a biennial event in 2018, alternating between violin and cello. The First Prize includes a $12,000 cash award and a solo performance with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra.
Next Competition: March 8, 2026 (Violin)
Application portal will open July 1, 2025.
Application deadline is December 15, 2025.
The following pieces will not be allowed as entry pieces for the 2026 Violin Schadt Competition due to recent performances of these pieces by the Allentown Symphony Orchestra:
- Violin Concerto by Samuel Barber
- Violin Concerto by Edward Elgar
- Scottish Fantasy by Max Bruch
- Violin Concerto by Feliz Mendelssohn
We will accept either audio or video file formats in the application, but we should emphasize that it is still a blind application process and we will not watch videos when reviewing their individual applications.
2026 Judges
Martin Chalifour
Principal Concertmaster, Los Angeles Philharmonic
Martin Chalifour has served as Principal Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 1995, making him the longest-tenured in the orchestra’s history. A native of Québec, Canada, he graduated with honors from the Montreal Conservatory at 18 and continued his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music. Chalifour’s early career included positions as Associate Concertmaster with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra, where he also served as Acting Concertmaster.
An accomplished soloist, Chalifour has performed over 60 concertos with esteemed conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Gustavo Dudamel, and Esa-Pekka Salonen. He has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras worldwide, including the Auckland Philharmonia, Montreal Symphony, and Hong Kong Philharmonic.
In addition to his performance career, Chalifour is a dedicated educator, teaching at Caltech and the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. He has recorded solo and chamber music for labels including Telarc, Northstar, and Yarlung.
Paul Kantor
Shepherd School of Music, Rice University
Paul Kantor is currently the Sallie Shepherd Perkins Professor of Violin at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University having previously served as the Eleanor H. Biggs Distinguished Professor of Violin at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School studying violin with Dorothy DeLay and chamber music with Robert Mann. For thirteen years he served as Chair of the String Department at the University of Michigan and has taught at The Juilliard School, the New England Conservatory, and Yale University. He continues as Artist in Residence at the Glenn Gould School of Music/ Royal Conservatory of Music since his appointment in 2008. Along with his son, violinist Timothy Kantor, he founded and directs the Gabriel Del Orbe Violin Program in the Dominican Republic.
Additionally, he has presented master classes at the Starling-Delay Symposium, Indiana University, the Eastman School of Music, the University of Southern California and the New World Symphony, among others. His students consistently win major awards at important violin competitions, including the Indianapolis, Montreal, Stulberg, Buenos Aires, Klein, and Fischoff competitions.
For the past 37 years, he has been on the Artist/Faculty of the Aspen Music Festival & School, where he has been concertmaster of both the Festival Orchestra and the Chamber Symphony. He has performed as soloist with numerous symphony orchestras as well as serving as concertmaster of the New Haven Symphony, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra and the Great Lakes Festival Orchestra. Kantor was a member of The New York and Lenox string quartets, the Berkshire Chamber Players and the National Musical Arts Chamber Ensemble in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Kantor has performed the world premieres of Dan Welcher’s Violin Concerto, (subsequently recorded with Larry Rachleff and Symphony II) as well as John Corigliano’s “Red Violin Caprices”. His recordings can be found on the labels of Equilibrium, CRI, Delos and Mark Records. In 2014, he was honored with the Artist Teacher Award from the American String Teachers Association.
He is married to pianist Virginia Weckstrom.
Education:
BMus (1977), MMus (1978) The Juilliard School
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Past Prize Winners
2024 Cello · Gaeun Kim · Megan Yip · Aaron Wolff
2022 Violin · Leonard Fu · Shenae Anderson · Russell Iceberg
2020 Cello · Gabriel Martins · Nathan Le · Connor Kim
2018 Violin · Timothy Chooi · Ania Filochowska · Hannah Cho
2017 Guitar · Tengyue Zhang · Young Ik Jang · Alec Holcomb
2016 Cello · Alexander Hersh · Sujin Lee · Noemie Raymond-Friset
2015 Violin · Zeyu Victor Li · Clare Semes · Wei Lu
2014 Guitar · Silviu Ciulei · Celil Refi Kaya · Brendan Evans
2013 Cello · Christine Lamprea · Austin Huntington · Sang Yhee
2012 Violin · Ji-Won Song · Siwoo Kim · Clara Lyon
2011 Guitar · Petrit Ceku · Benjamin Beirs · Silviu Ciulei
2010 Cello · Jacqueline Choi · Meta Weiss · Matthew Zalkind
2009 Violin · SoJin Kim · Hyorim Han · Shih-Kai Lin
2008 Classical Guitar · Nemanja Ostojic · Andrew Stroud · Benjamin Beirs
2007 Cello · Jonathan Lewis · Paul Dwyer · Alice Yoo
2006 Violin · Erin Keefe · Stephanie Jeong · Eunice Keem
2005 Classical Guitar · Aaron Brock · Randall Avers · David Galvez
2004 Cello · Julia Bruskin · Alice Yoo · Mihai Marica
2003 Violin · Angie Cheng · Nelson Lee · Katie Hynn · Wu Jie
2002 Classical Guitar · Marco Sartor · Aaron Brock · David Galvez
2001 Cello · Efe Baltacigil · Jesus Casto-Balbi · Sharon Bogas
2000 Violin · Daniel Kossov · Min-Young Kim · MinJung Kamg
1999 Classical Guitar · Denis Azabagic · Luis Mantovani · Rene Izquierdo
1998 Cello · Christopher Miroshnikov · Andre Tchekmazov · Clancy Newman
1997 Violin · Irina Muresanu · Kun Dong · Judith Ingolfsson