Ruqi Jiang Wins James Stroud Classical Guitar Competition

The guitar student won first prize of $10,000.

Congratulations to guitar student Ruqi Jiang on winning first prize of $10,000 at the James Stroud National Guitar Competition. The final round was held on Sunday, June 7 at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

One of the nation’s leading youth guitar competitions, the annual event was founded to create opportunities for the next generation of classical guitarists ages 14-18.

“My hope is that this competition will help further their artistic and musical pursuits for advanced musical studies and professional musical careers,” says James Stroud, founder and director of the competition.

About Ruqi Jiang
Ruqi Jiang, from Wenzhou, China, studying guitar with David Starobin and Jason Vieaux, is the Bok Foundation Fellow and entered Curtis in 2023.

Since 2017, Ruqi has participated in numerous domestic and international guitar competitions. In August 2019, she won the solo championship in group A at the fifth GTA (Qinling) International Guitar Art Festival. She later won first prize in the junior division of the International Network Guitar Competition in The Hague, Netherlands, and the youth category at the tenth Changsha Classical Guitar International Network Art Festival.

Learn more about Ruqi Jiang’s win and the competition.