Prizes were awarded over four age categories at the 10th edition of the competition, held from 9 to 13 June 2026
The 10th Leonid Kogan International Competition for Young Violinists was held from 9 to 13 June 2026. Finalists among four age categories were selected based on video submissions, and invited to perform in the final round at the Musical Instruments Museum in Brussels, Belgium.
The competition was divided into the following categories: First category (aged up to nine), second category (aged up to 13), third category (aged up to 17) and fourth category (aged up to 23).
In the fourth category, 19-year-old Austrian violinist Sandra Hager and 22-year-old Italian violinist Angela Tempestini won first prize (ex-aequo), worth €2,000. Second prize was not awarded. Aijia Li (21, China) received third prize, while Hayato Kabato (23, Japan) and Ririka Fukuda (19, Japan) were diploma finalists.
In the third category, 17-year-old Dutch violinist Pieter Streefkerk and 16-year-old Canadian violinist Sora Sato-Mound received first prize (ex-aequo) of €1,000. Second and third prizes were not awarded. Jihoo Hwang (17, South Korea) and Wanran Zhang (15, China) were diploma finalists.
In the second category, 11-year-old Australian violinist Ian Yan won first prize. 12-year-old Singaporean violinist Chua Suen Ern won second prize, while third prize (ex-aequo) went to Christopher Yun (13, US) and Ziqing Ma (12, China).
Fourth prize (ex-aequo) went to Lee Yu Ze (13, Malaysia) and Emanuel Akopian (11, The Netherlands), while fifth prize (ex-aequo) went to Simon Luo (11, Australia) and Ngai Nam Eleanor Wong (12, Hong Kong). Naomi Jones (12, US) received sixth prize and Eason Hu (13, Canada), Xie Zhuoyan (13, China) and Tong Wu (13, Australia) were diploma finalists.
In the first category, 8-year-old violinist Gianne Lee and 9-year-old Jibin Yoon, both from South Korea, won first prize (ex-aequo). Keira Sing (9, Hong Kong) won second prize, while Dora Rui Yang (6, China) won third prize.
Fourth prize went to Amelia Lu (9, Hong Kong) and sixth prize (ex-aequo) went to Sophie Xia Ku (7, US) and Xue Qiaoxi (9, China). The diploma finalists were Saki Uchida (9, Japan), Mattia Wang (9, US), Marika Nakazato (9, Japan), Wan Chi Ng (9, China) and Ivy Su (9,US).
The jury comprised Karen Aroutiounian, Sergey Khachatryan, Ilya Grubert, Savva Fatkulin, Igor Unterberg, Wong Ho Kei Calvin, Aram Gevorkian, Michael Vaiman, Eric Melon, Armen Harutyunyan, Valery Oistrakh, Vilmos Csikos, Igor Volochine and Alexander Detisov.
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