Sophie Branson (violin), student of Liana Tretiakova at the ZBSM, won the 1st prize at the Rising Stars international music competition in Riga (Latvia) on the 1st of March 2020.

The annual international music competition Rising Stars takes place in Latvia since 2013. In these seven years our students have participated in it twice, and both times won first prizes. In 2016 a little violinist Ilva Eigus (back then she was just 8 years old) won the first prize in the Junior category (8-10 years old), and this year her success in the age category 13-15 years was repeated by young Sophie Branson (13). Both girls study in the studio of Liana Tretiakova, the leading violin teacher and co-founder of the Zakhar Bron School of Music.

The victory in the Rising Stars 2020 music competition is the fourth already in Sophie Branson’s career. Earlier Sophie won the 1st prize in the international music competition Premia di Padova (Italy) in 2017, and the 1st prize in the chamber music category at the Swiss National Music Competition in 2019 (in a duo with Moe Zürcher, another student of Liana Tretiakova). Additionally, Sophie won the 2nd prize at the international music competition Crescendo 2015 in Geneva (that year in the youngest age category the first prize was not given to anybody).

Upon completion of the Rising Stars 2020 competition, Sophie Branson was honoured to perform at the Gala Concert in the historical Riga Philharmonic Hall, which she accomplished brilliantly. Our heartfelt congratulations to the winner of the international competition, her parents and her teacher!