Cello and violin contestants announced for 2026 George Enescu International Competition

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The George Enescu International Competition will be held in Bucharest, Romania, celebrating the disciplines of cello, violin and piano from 29 August to 19 September 2026.

The cello edition will be held from 29 August to 7 September, while the violin edition will be held from 4 to 13 September. The piano edition will be held from 10 to 19 September.

50 competitors were selected for each of the three disciplines. The competition is open to applicants born on or after 1 August 1991 inclusive. The competitions will take place over four rounds at the National University of Music Bucharest and Romanian Athenaeum.

Each discipline will over first prize of €15,000, second prize of €10,000 and third prize of €5,000. €3,000 will be on offer for the best performance of a Sonata by George Enescu, as well as €2,000 for the best performance of the competition’s imposed work, and €1,000 for the audience award. Other opportunities will be awarded, such as performances and artistic mentoring.

The cello jury will be presided by Arto Noras and will comprise Claudio Bohórquez, Marin Cazacu, Enrico Dindo, Elena Dubinets, Frans Helmerson, Dan Prelipcean, Valentin Răduțiu and Inbal Segev.

The violin jury will be presided by Mihaela Martin and will comprise Ida Kavafian, Alissa Margulis, Vladimir Nemțanu, Nora Pötter, Bujor Prelipcean, Liviu Prunaru, Nemanja Radulović and Kathleen Winkler.

The cello contestants are:

Luis Aracama | Spain

Miriam Bensaïd | France

Taewoong Chae | South Korea

Yiqi Chen | China

Yunseo Cho | South Korea

Yireh Choi | United States

Bogdan Efremov | Russia

Clara Yuna Friedensburg | Norway

Mar Gimferrer | Spain

Amy Goto | United States

Seungbin Ha | South Korea

Goeunsol Heo | South Korea

Jin Seok Jeong | Hungary

Seojin Jung | South Korea

Serge Kalinovsky | United States

Seohyun Kang | South Korea

Liav Kerbel | Belgium

Angeline Kiang | United States

Hyein Kim | South Korea

Jisoo Kim | South Korea

Dora Kokas | Hungary

Joshua Kováč | United States

Seeun Kwon | South Korea

Alex Kwan Chak Lau | Hong Kong

Carlo Lay | Germany

Jeri Lee | South Korea

Runing Li | China

Thomas Lim | United States

carson Ling-Efird | United States

Edward Luengo | United States

Milena Marena | Switzerland

Ethan Murphy | United States

Samuel Niederhasuer | Switzerland

Sanghyeok Park | South Korea

Vesper Park | South Korea

Jonathan Reuveni | Switzerland

Felix Rosenboom | Germany

Andres Sanchez | United States

Ivan Skanavi | Russia

Francesco Stefanelli | Italy

Antonia Straka | Austria

Jakob Taylor | United States

Eleonora Testa | Italy

Emma Van Schadewijk | Netherlands

Min Won | South Korea

Arne Zeller | Germany

Zhiyu Zhang | China

Ziyang Zhao | China

Cornelius Zirbo | Romania

Amelia Zitoun | United States

 

The violin candidates are:

Mariam Abouzahra | Germany

Jisoo Ahn | South Korea

Seoyeon Baik | South Korea

Jiachen Cao | China

I-Hao Cheng | Taiwan

Jiwon Choi | South Korea

Iohan Coman | Romania

Salvatore Di Lorenzo | Italy

Anastasia Dziadevych | Ukraine

Liza Fediukova | Russia

Anais Feller | United States

Kaori Furusawa | Japan

Yujin Hong | South Korea

Shao-che (Sean) Hsi | United States

Younghoon Jin | South Korea

Seunghyun Kang | South Korea

Eshel Kim | South Korea

Eun Che Kim | South Korea

Alexander Won-Ho Kim | South Korea

Jayden King | United States

Daniel Kogan | Canada

Artur Krishchian | Russia

Youngjoo Lee | South Korea

Bastian Loewe | Chile

Tiantian Lu | China

Erica Lynn | United States

Stylianos Mastrogiannis | Greece

Sergei Mkrtichian | Russia

Masaki Morishita | Japan

Sakura Nakagawa | Japan

Haerim Oh | South Korea

Sunjae Ok | South Korea

Francesco Papa | Italy

Jieon Park | United States

Shinyoung Park | South Korea

Sasha Parker | United Kingdom

Andrej Roszyk | Austria

Aoi Saito | Japan

Zixuan Shen | China

Sofia Smărăndescu | Romania

Hannah Song | United States

Kaho Takemoto | Japan

Oleksii Tyshchenko | Ukraine

Ayaka Uchio | Japan

Anne Maria Wehrmeyer | Germany

Peixuan Wu | China

Preston Yeo | United Kingdom

Yumiko Yumiba | Japan

Yume Zamponi | Italy

Yinan Zhao | China