Carpenter is currently a junior at Princeton University and studies viola privately with Roberto D‹az, incoming president of the Curtis Institute and former principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. As winner of the 2005 Philadelphia Orchestra Young Artists Competition, he performed the Walton Viola Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach. Carpenter has also performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center; in 2005 he won the Verbier Festival Artist's Award.

A second prize of $5,000 was awarded to Eric Nowlin, 26, a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy and the Juilliard School, where he received both his master's and bachelor's degrees studying with Samuel Rhodes.

Jonah Sirota, 30, was named third prizewinner and awarded $2,500. Sirota, a founding member of the Chiara String Quartet, is currently artist-in-residence at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He received his bachelor of music degree from Rice University and his master's from Juilliard.

David Kim, 25, received honorable mention. He is currently a student at New England Conservatory, where he studies with Kim Kashkashian and Carol Rodland.

Forty violists competed in the competition's preliminary rounds on October 12-14 at the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York; nine were selected to compete in the semi-finals on October 16 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The final rounds took place on October 18 at Manhattan School of Music.

The 2006 jury included Robert Mann, Misha Amory, Toby Appel, Earl Carlyss, Lawrence Dutton, John Kochanowski, Nicholas Mann, Paul Neubauer, Michael Ouzounian and Mark Sokol.

The Walter W. Naumburg Foundation was founded in 1926. This event was the organization's third viola competition.