Ysaÿe International Violin Competition announces 2026 finalists

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The finalists for the 2026 Ysaÿe International Violin Competition have been announced. Eight violinists will proceed to the junior division finals and twelve to the senior division finals. 

The junior division finalsts are: 

Albert Wei-Chen Chang (Taiwan)

Yijun Dong (China)

Yalan Jin (China)

Yaner Jin (China)

Sena Lee (Korea)

Wenyou Liu (China)

Yuexuan Shen (China)

Jacob Sun (USA)

The senior division finalists are: 

Georgios Banos (Greece)

Vilmos Csikos (Belgium)

Xiang Han (China)

Ain Kim (Korea)

Sophie Leung (China)

Haewon Lim (Korea)

Christina Nam (USA)

Tetsutaro Nakatani (Japan)

Eva Lucia Schmölzer (Austria)

Honoka Sugitani (Japan)

Jingxuan Xu (China)

Leonid Zhelezny (Russia)

The finals will take place from 6 to 12 July at the Icheon Art Hall in South Korea. The junior finalists will present a 15-minute performance including one study or caprice for solo violin and one virtuoso piece for solo violin or with accompaniment (the first movement of a concerto is allowed). 

The senior finalists will perform a first movement from a sonata by either Beethoven, Schubert or Brahms, a solo violin sonata by Ysaÿe and the first movement of a concerto from a provided list. 

The 2026 will be chaired by the competition’s artistic director, Ashot Khachatourian. It will also comprise Hrachya Avanesyan, Andrey Baranov, Ensik Choi, Alexandre Feye, Gabriel Gheorghe, Stefan Jackiw, Philippe Koch, Kara Nam, Erez Ofer, Joel Smirnoff, Kirill Troussov and Philippe Lehaen.