The next National Schadt String Competition finals will be held on March 8, 2026 - for Violin.

Application portal will open August 1, 2025.

Application deadline is December 15, 2025.

More information will be updated in the 2024-25 Season.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR CONTACT LIST FOR NEWS AND UPDATES

A new development in the National Schadt String Competition is the addition of the biennial Schadt Recital performed by the second place winner on the opposite years of the competition cycle. Mark your calendar for March 2, 2025 to hear Megan Yip's masterful performance. 

Winners - 25th National Schadt String Competition

From left to right: Gaeun Kim (First Prize), Megan Yip (Second Prize & Audience Favorite) & Aaron Wolff (Third Prize) - Photography: Marco Calderon

The Story of the Competition

Edwin H. Schadt (1910-1994) and Leigh W. Schadt (1904-1996) were two brothers who lived in Allentown all their lives. They were the sons of Mary and Henry Schadt, two Allentonians who ran a wholesale grocery business on Front Street in Allentown. Both Leigh and Edwin were born at home in the early 1900s. They lived at 1048 North 11th Street until moving to Luther Crest Retirement Community in the early 1990s. The two boys attended Lincoln School on Walnut Street, went on to prep school at Muhlenberg, and both graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business in the 1920s. The Schadt brothers became successful Allentown businessmen and established Towne Auto Company on Linden Street.

In their youth, Leigh and Edwin were exposed to the violin. Their father was a self-taught violinist and wanted his sons to learn to play the instrument that he loved. Henry commissioned a local craftsman and musician, John Johnson, to make a violin for each of the boys and give them violin lessons. The custom-made violins still exist, and are being used today by young violinists from the Lehigh Valley. Although Leigh and Edwin did not become violinists themselves, they kept their father's interest alive by establishing a trust to provide financial aid to promising young violin students. The trust provides scholarships to area string musicians, sends young musicians to music camps, and underwrites youth concerts. After the Schadts' deaths, the trust provided funding for the Allentown Symphony Association to host the National Schadt String Competition.

The National Schadt String Competition was an annual event for the first 21 years of its 25-year history. It has been a biennual event since 2018.

Begun in 1997 following a bequest to the Allentown Symphony Association from Edwin H. and Leigh W. Schadt, the competition alternates every other year between violin and cello.

The First Prize includes a cash award of $12,000 and a solo concerto engagement with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra during the season following each competition.

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 Op.64, E minor by Felix Mendelssohn

The next competition will be held in 2026 - Violin. 

CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR CONTACT LIST FOR NEWS AND UPDATES

Past Prize Winners