The George Enescu International Competition is a music competition for young pianists, violinists, cellists and composers, that takes place in Bucharest, Romania. It has helped launch the careers of many musicians, and among its list of first-prize winners are pianists such as Radu Lupu, the winner in the 1967 edition. Other winners include Spanish pianist Josu De Solaun Soto, Russian pianists Elisabeth Leonskaja, in 1964, and Dmitri Alexeev, in 1970.
Overview The competition started in 1958, as part of the George Enescu Festival, and celebrated its first five editions (1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, and 1970) in what was then the Socialist Republic of Romania. It was considered, by the countries of the Eastern Bloc, one of the most prestigious music competitions. Jury members included famous musicians such as Claudio Arrau, Nadia Boulanger, Arthur Rubinstein, Magda Tagliaferro, Guido Agosti, Florica Musicescu, Dmitri Bashkirov, Carlo Zecchi, and Lazar Berman. Probably because of financial circumstances during Ceausescu's dictatorship, the competition was abandoned in 1970, though it resumed twenty-one years later.
The competition is a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions in Geneva.
The competition and prize-giving ceremony has historically taken place in the Romanian Athenaeum, with the mayor always traditionally attending.
Prize money Cello, Violin and Piano prizes: First prize – €15.000 Second prize – €10.000 Third prize – €5.000
Composition prizes: Prize for symphonic music section – €10.000 Chamber music section – €7.000 Prize for originality – €5.000;
Winners Piano section + Top prize piano winners since the foundation of the competition in 1958 Year 1st 2nd 3rd 1958 Ming-Qiang Li Michèle Boegner Mikhail Voskresensky (tie) Dmitry Paperno 1961 Not awarded Arie Vardi Théodore Paraskivesco (tie) Hong Teng 1964 Elisabeth Leonskaja André Gorog Gabriel Amiras 1967 Radu Lupu Samvel Alumyan (tie) Dan Grigore Anatol Ugorski 1970 Dmitri Alexeev Mack McCray Radu Toescu 1991 Daniel Goiți Viniciu Moroianu Luiza Borac1999Not awardedNot awardedNot awarded 2001 Diana Ionescu Matei Varga Maria-Magdalena Pitu-Jokisch 2003 Ilona Timchenko Not awarded Razvan Dragnea Evgeny Starodubtsev (tie) 2005 Irina Zahharenkova Evgeny Izotov Aimo Pagin 2007 Eduard Kunz Evgeny Cherepanov Christopher Falzone 2009 Amir Tebenikhin Violetta Kachikian Jongdo An 2011 Not awarded Jeung-Beum Sohn Mihai Ritivoiu Ilya Poletaev (tie) 2014 Josu de Solaun Soto Ilya Rashkovsky Vassilis Varvaresos 2016 Victoria Vassilenko Takuma Ishii Danor Quinteros 2018 Daria Parkhomenko Daumants Liepins Alexander Panfilov 2020 Yeon-Min Park Adela Liculescu Marcin Wieczorek 2022 Alexandra Segal George Todica Chun Lam U 2024 Roman Lopatynskyi Tatiana Dorokhova Evgeny Konnov 2026 Jeongwoo Lee Yiming Guo Pin-Hong Lin
Violin section +Top prize violin winners since the foundation of the competition in 1958 Year 1st 2nd 3rd 1958 Ştefan Ruha Semen Snitkovski (tie) Varujan Cozighian Evgheni Smirnov Ralph Holmes
Daniel Podlovski (tie) 1961 Nina Beilina Daniel Podlovski Igor Frolov 1964 Claire Bernard Alexander Melnicov Varujan Cozighian 1967 Zinovie Vinnikov Bogodar Kotorovici Mariana Sârbu 1970 Silvia Marcovici Ruben Agaronian Philippe Hirschhorn 1991 Dan Claudiu Vornicelu Axel Strauss Bogdan Marius Zvorişteanu1999 Alexandru Tomescu George Cosmin Bănică Remus Azoiţei (tie)Not awarded 2001 Nemanja Radulovic George Cosmin Bănică Ştefan Horvath 2003 Eugen Ţichindeleanu George Cosmin Bănică Nurit Stark Saeys Frederieke (tie) 2005 Valeriy Sokolov Szalai Antal George Cosmin Bănică 2007 Anna Tifu Chun Harim Vald Stănculeasa 2009 Jarosław Nadrzycki Shin A-Rah Palitsyna Nadezda 2011 Not awarded Haik Kazazyan Alexandra Conunova (tie) Szalai Antal 2014 Ştefan Tarara Feodor Rudin Wonhee Bae 2016 Gyehee Kim Donghyun Kim Erzhan Kulibaev 2018Not awarded Vikram Sedona Giuseppe Gibboni 2020/21 Valentine Şerban Jaewon Wee Tassilo Probst 2022 Maria Marica Ştefan Aprodul Gregorie Torossian 2024 Mayumi Kanagawa Hyeonjeong Lee Wakana Kimura 2026 Jayden King Francesco Papa Eun Che Kim
Cello section + Top prize cello winners since 2011 Year 1st 2nd 3rd 2011 Tian Bonian Valentin Răduțiu Michal Korman 2014 Eun-Sun Hong Tony Rymer Sarah Rommel 2016 Zlatomir Fung Anastasia Kobekina Mon Pue-Lee 2018 Marcel Johannes Kits Yibai Chen Stanislas Kim 2022 Jaemin Han Sebastian Fritsch Ştefan Cazacu 2022 Benjamin Kruithof Constantin Borodin Constantin Siepermann 2024 Yo Kitamura Ettore Pagano Haddon Kay 2026 Samuel Niederhauser Joshua Kováč Sanghyeok Park
Composition +Composition prize winners for Symphonic and Chamber Music since 1991YearSymphonic MusicChamber Music1991 Dan Dediu Massim Trotta Michael Smetanin2003 Oliver Waespi Diana Rotaru Vlad Maistorovici2005 Diana Rotaru David Philip Hefti Maria Ungueranu Kim Young-Guk2007 Sakai Kenji Megyery Kristina2009 Lam Lan-Chee Qian Shen-Ying2011 Chang Eunho Kwang-Ho Cho2014 Sebastian Androne Alexandru Murariu2016 Tian Tian Caterina Di Cecca2018 Alexandru Murariu Jung Hoon Ham2020/21 Karlo Margetic Young Jae Cho2022 Shin Kim Leonardo Marino2024 Alexander Voltz Daniele Di Virgilio2026 Jinhan Xiao Adrien Sassier
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