June 17, 2025 at 7:00 p.m.
Dallas International Violin Competition Finals
Moody Performance Hall
2520 Flora Street, Dallas, TX 75201
Experience the virtuosic performances of the three finalists of the Dallas International Violin Competition as they vie for the event’s top prize. All three will perform a solo concerto with orchestra, and a renowned jury will select and announce the winner. Attendees will have their say as well and can cast their vote for the audience choice award! Follow quarterfinals and semifinals leading up to this event at dallasivc.org.
Program
Main event starts at 7:00 p.m.
Peter Bay conducts
The three finalists of the Dallas International Violin Competition 2025 have been announced! During finals, they’ll each join the Dallas Chamber Symphony on stage to perform a violin concerto of their choosing.
Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor
Alice Lee, violin (3rd Prize Winner)
Short Intermission
Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major
Laurel Gagnon, violin (1st Prize Winner)
Short Intermission
Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor
Hiu Sing Fan, violin (2nd Prize Winner + Audience Choice Award)
A short awards ceremony will be held at the conclusion of this concert, during which the Juror’s Prizes and Audience Choice Award will be presented.
Program duration:
2.5 hours, including intermissions
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Monday – Friday
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About the Artists
Peter Bay, guest conductor
Peter Bay became Music Director and Conductor of the Austin Symphony Orchestra in 1998. He is also Conductor of the Bravo! Big Sky Classical Festival Orchestra (MT) and Arizona Philharmonic.
Maestro Bay has appeared with over eighty different orchestras including the National, Chicago, St. Louis, Houston, Dallas, Baltimore, New Jersey, North Carolina, San Antonio, Tucson, West Virginia, Colorado, Hawaii, Sarasota, Fort Worth, Bochum (Germany), Carinthian (Austria), Lithuanian National, and Ecuador National Symphonies, the Minnesota and Algarve (Portugal) Orchestras, the Louisiana, Buffalo, Arizona, Rhode Island and Boca del Rio (Mexico) Philharmonics, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Eastman (Postcard from Morocco) and Aspen (The Ballad of Baby Doe) Opera Theaters, and the Theater Chamber Players of the Kennedy Center. Summer music festival appearances have included Aspen and Music in the Mountains (CO), Grant Park and Ravinia (IL), Round Top (TX), OK Mozart (OK) and Skaneateles (NY). In June 2018 he led performances of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass as part of the Bernstein100Austin celebration.
Peter is the primary conductor for Ballet Austin. For Austin Opera he has conducted A Streetcar Named Desire, La Traviata, Turandot, The Marriage of Figaro, and La bohème.
Other positions held by Bay have included Music Director of the Erie Philharmonic, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Breckenridge Music Festival (CO), Britt Festival Orchestra (OR), Hot Springs Music Festival (AR), and posts with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Richmond Symphony. From 1980 to 1990 he served on the conducting staff of the Aspen Music Festival where he led concerts with four of its orchestras. Bay and the ASO with pianist Anton Nel released a critically acclaimed Bridge CD of Edward Burlingame Hill’s music. With the Richmond Symphony he recorded the U.S. premiere of Britten’s The Sword in the Stone for Opus One Records, and with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Voices, featuring the percussion ensemble NEXUS. He is conductor for Christopher Cross’ Secret Ladder album and Hanan Townshend’s soundtrack to the 2016 movie The Vessel.
In 1994, he was one of two conductors selected to participate in the Leonard Bernstein American Conductors Program. He was the first prize winner of the 1980 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Young Conductors Competition and a prize winner of the 1987 Leopold Stokowski Competition sponsored by the American Symphony Orchestra. In July 2012 he appeared in Solo Symphony, a choreographic work created for him by Allison Orr of Forklift Danceworks. He was inducted into the Austin Arts Hall of Fame in May 2016.
Peter is married to soprano Mela Sarajane Dailey and they have a son Colin.
Alice Lee, violin
Alice Lee began playing violin at age 5 in Victoria, B.C. and debuted when she was 11 years old with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra under Tania Miller as the soloist in Victoria Symphony Splash 2011. She is the top prizewinner at numerous international competitions, including 2nd prizewinner at the International Fritz Kreisler Competition 2018 and Vienna Classic Strings Competition 2019, in addition to the 1st prizewinner of the Cullerarts International Competition 2023, Shean Strings Competition 2017, and OSM Manulife Competition 2016. Performing as a soloist with orchestras worldwide, she has worked with the Vienna ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester under Johannes Wildner in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Slovak Radio Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Menuhin Academy Soloists, Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra, Niagara Symphony Orchestra, Spanish CullerArts Orchestra, LGT Soloists, and the Academy Chamber Orchestra in Koerner Hall, Toronto. She has made several radio recordings and broadcasted live performances with CBC 2 In Concert, and was named in CBC’s 30 hot musicians under 30 in 2017.
A frequent artist at renowned festivals around the world, she has performed at the Kronberg Academy Masterclasses, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Internationale Musikakademie Liechtenstein, Mozarteum Sommerakademie, Gstaad Menuhin Festival, Rencontres Musicales Internationales Switzerland, Banff String Quartet Festival 2017, Banff Masterclass program, Festival Stradivaria, Herbstoene Festival, Morningside Music Bridge, and the Indiana Summer Academy. Additionally, she has played for artists including James Ehnes, Ana Chumachenco, Boris Kuschnir, Mihaela Martin, Jonathan Crow, Midori, and Paul Kantor.
She currently studies with Donald Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory in Boston, and has previously studied with Maxim Vengerov at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, as well as with Pierre Amoyal, Barry Shiffman, and Victor Danchenko. Alice Lee performs on the 1689 Baumgartner Stradivarius violin, generously on loan by the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank.
Laurel Gagnon, violin
Violinist Laurel Gagnon’s interpretations “sing with a naturalness that [is] both disarming and distinctive” (The Straits Times, Singapore, Singapore). She has performed across the United States, Europe, and Asia, currently residing in New Haven, Connecticut. Ms. Gagnon was awarded top prizes at the Elmar Oliveira and Singapore International Violin Competitions, and was invited to perform in the live rounds of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. Laurel’s teachers include Ben Sayevich, Mauricio Fuks, and Augustin Hadelich; a recent graduate of the Yale School of Music, Laurel will join Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect fellowship program in September.
A passionate chamber musician, she made recent appearances at Halcyon Chamber Music Festival and Avaloch Farm Music Institute. Gagnon is also a member of the award-winning Vinola Trio, an ensemble consisting of clarinet, violin, and piano. The group curates programs of living composers, seeks to expand the trio repertoire, and brings attention to the lesser known works that are already written. Recently, the group completed teaching and performing residencies at Boston Conservatory and Truman State University. Grand prize winners of the Plowman Chamber Music Competition, the trio was a top prize winner at the MTNA National Chamber Music competition and a semifinalist at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
Laurel has worked extensively with Indiana University’s Center for Rural Engagement, bringing music into collaborative community spaces. Ms. Gagnon also taught extensively with Indiana University’s “Fairview Project” and the Yale School of Music’s “Music in Schools” community music project.
Hiu Sing Fan, violin
Hiu Sing Fan has established himself as one of the most promising young stars on the international concert circuit. A laureate of the New York International Artists Association Violin Competition, Verão Clássico Festival, and Musicus Society Young Artist Audition, he was also among the six semi-finalists at the 2024 George Enescu Violin Competition. Fan’s notable appearances include prestigious festivals such as the Marvão Music Academy, Verbier Festival, Verão Clássico Festival, and Great Mountains Music Festival and School.
Since 2023, Mr. Fan has served as Guest Concertmaster with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, performing at renowned venues like the Cologne Philharmonie and touring with the orchestra at the Internacional de Música de Marvão and Festival Póvoa de Varzim. He has also collaborated with distinguished ensembles such as Camerata Salzburg, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, and the London Chamber Orchestra.
Fan has had the privilege of collaborating with and receiving mentorship from renowned artists, including Leonidas Kavakos, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Vadim Repin, Itzhak Perlman, Kristóf Baráti, Ferenc Rados, Pamela Frank, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Donald Weilerstein, Aaron Rosand, Pierre Amoyal, Quatuor Ébène, and the Emerson String Quartet.
Born in Hong Kong, Fan began his violin studies at the age of four. His exceptional talent earned him scholarships such as the Cordelia Lee Beattie Foundation Scholarship and Betty & Daniel Bloomfield Fund Scholarship at The Juilliard School, where he completed his bachelor’s degree under Hyo Kang and I-Hao Lee. He continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich with Julia Fischer, Christoph Poppen, Lena Neudauer, and Veronika Eberle. As a recipient of the Eckstein Scholarship, he is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree under the mentorship of Gerardo Ribeiro, serving as his teaching assistant at the Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University. He currently plays on a 1742 Guarneri del Gesù, generously on loan through the Chinese Foundation.