The South Korean musician will perform with the Philharmonia Orchestra as part of her prize later this year

Ji-Yoon-Lee-Violin-Large

The winner of the fifth Windsor Festival International String Competition has been named as Ji Yoon Lee. The 22-year-old South Korean violinist performed a recital of Ysaÿe, Prokofiev and Wieniawski in the final, held at Windsor Castle on 20 March. Currently studying for a Master’s degree at the Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’, Lee also won first prize at the Fifth David Oistrakh International Competition in Moscow in 2013.

Windsor’s second prize went to 19-year-old British violist Timothy Ridout, winner of last year’s inaugural Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition and a student at London’s Royal Academy of Music, while third prize and the audience prize went to 24-year-old Latvian violinist Elina Buksha, a student of Augustin Dumay at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium.

Lee receives a concerto performance with the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Windsor Festival in September, a £5,000 cash award, a fine contemporary bow to the value of £5,000 from Bishop Instruments and Bows, and a solo recording on Champs Hill records.

Open to international violinists, violists and cellists aged between 16 and 26, this year’s Windsor competition took place from 15 to 21 March and received over 160 international applications. The jury included violinist and Royal Academy of Music professor Erich Gruenberg; Sydney Symphony principal viola and Sydney Conservatorium lecturer Roger Benedict; and cellist, and Zürich Winterthur Konservatorium and Royal Northern College of Music professor Raphael Wallfisch.

The winner of the Fourth Windsor String Competition was violinist Benjamin Baker.