Donum Quartet wins Susan Wadsworth Audition... The first domestic chamber orchestra

Domestic string quartet Donum Quartet won the '2026 Susan Wadsworth International Audition' held in New York, USA on the 9th (local time).

The Donum Quartet, consisting of violinists Park Seung-won and Jo In-hae, violist Shin Il-kyung, and cellist Lee Hyun-min, ranked first in the finals by playing the first and second movements of Britten's 'String Quartet'. This is the first time that a domestic chamber orchestra has won this competition.

The Donum Quartet, which debuted at the Kumho Young Chamber Concert in August last year, attracted attention by successively taking second place at the 2025 Manhattan International Music Competition and the 2026 Coltman Chamber Music Competition.

The Susan Wadsworth International Audition is a contest hosted by Young Concert Artists, a leading young musician training organization in the United States. The winner of the competition will receive three years of professional management, as well as accommodations in New York and Washington D.C. Benefits include debut recitals, opportunities to perform at major venues, album and video production, and mentoring.

Past Korean winners include violinists Seongju Lee (1976), Jooyoung Oh (1996), Jooyoung Baek (2000), Hanbin Yu (2008-2009), and Subin Lee (2014), pianists Jeongah Kim (1964), Dasol Kim (2015), Dohyun Kim (2017), and Chaeyoung Park (2022), and cellists. Lee Sang-eun (2014), etc.