The 2020 Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition (SISIVC) has been postponed until August 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the organizer announced on Monday.

This year's SISIVC, which was scheduled to run from August 4 to 25, was called off to ensure the health and safety of the participants, jury members, staff and audience, according to the statement.

It said the deadline for videos uploaded by participants will be announced by August 2020 with pre-selection starting in March 2021.

According to the rescheduled agenda, the competition will open on August 10 next year and the final round will be held from August 27 to 29.

The competition, however, will not accept new applications while all applications submitted online remain valid. The deadline was on January 20.

Though it will now be held in 2021, the event, in its third edition, will maintain its original title "2020 SISIVC," as this year marks the 100th birthday of Isaac Stern, the American violinist widely considered one of the great instrumentalists of the 20th century in his prime of life.

Launched in 2015 with its inaugural competition held in 2016, the SISIVC is a biennial violin competition in honor of Stern and his significant contribution to classical music in China.

The 2020 installment of SISIVC has a 13-member jury, co-chaired by conductor David Stern and violinist and pedagogue Vera Tsu Weiling.

Open to violinists aged 16 to 32 from all over the world, the competition offers 100,000 U.S. dollars as its first prize – the highest single cash prizes ever in an international violin competition, and is growing to be one of the most prestigious music competitions in the world.