The youngest winner is seven-year-old Himari Yoshimura from Japan

Himari Yoshimura

Seven-year-old Himari Yoshimura from Japan was one of the competition winners
Photo: Bernard Rosenberg

The International Grumiaux Competition for Young Violinists, which is split into four age groups, for those aged under 10, 13, 17 and 21 respectively, has announced its winners.

In Category A, 1st Grand Prize went to seven-year-old Himari Yoshimura from Japan, who played an excerpt from the 1st movement of Paganini’s Concerto no.1. The other prizes were distributed as follows: 

CATEGORY A

1st Grand Prize

  • Yoshimura Himari (7, Japan)

1st Prize

  • Kai Gergov (8, Bulgaria/Japan)
  • Nguyen Nguyen Le (10, Vietnam)

2nd Prize

  • Anton Carus (10, United States)
  • Sumin Kim (10, Korea)
  • Riisa Nakahara (10, Japan)

3rd Prize

  • Anisiya Artemova (9, Russia)
  • Khanui Erdenebat (10, Mongolia)
  • Defne Güngör (9, Turkey)
  • Nil Ipek Şabi (10, Turkey)

 

CATEGORY B 

1st Prize

  • Bianca Ciubancan (13, United States/Romania)
  • Naz Irem Turkmen (12, Turkey)

2nd Prize

  • Cha Hyu (12, Korea)
  • Tao-Yuan Hsiao (11, Taiwan)
  • Emiri Kakiuchi (12, Japan)

3rd Prize

  • Seoyul Kim (11, Korea)
  • Zofia Olesik (13, Poland)
  • Milena Pioruńska (14, Poland)

CATEGORY C

1st Prize

Kyota Kakiuchi (15, Japan)

2nd Prize

not awarded

3rd Prize

  • Leonid Anikin (18, Russia) 
  • Juseon Kim (16, Korea)
  • Miquel Muñiz Galdón (17, Spain)

CATEGORY D

1st Prize

  • Ayaka Uchio (21, Japan)

2nd Prize

  • Rika Tanimoto (18, Japan)

3rd Prize

  • Taishin Yamamoto (19, Japan)

The jury, chaired by Igor Tkatchouk, also awarded a special prize for the best interpretation of a Belgian work to Samuel Hirsch.

The competition took place at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels from 7th to 10th March. Previous laureates include Daniel LozakovichLara BoschkorOlga Šroubková and Sumina Studer.