George Enescu International Competition 2024 Announces Prize Winners

Top Finishers in Cello, Violin, Piano and Composition Divisions
Awarded €150,000 in Total Cash Prizes,
Plus Career Assistance and Performance Opportunities
in the 2025 George Enescu Festival

First Prizes Awarded to:
Yo Kitamura, Cello, Japan
Mayumi Kanagawa, Violin, United States
Roman Lopatynskyi, Piano, Ukraine
Voltz Alexander, Composition – Symphonic Music, Australia
Daniele Di Virgilio, Composition – Chamber Music, Italy
Santamaria Diego, Composition – Originality Award, Italy

Inaugural Conducting Masterclass Winners Featured in Closing Concert

Photo credit: Alex Damian

“a global artistic exchange” – The New York Times 

Bucharest, Romania (September 27, 2024) – The George Enescu International Competition has announced the winners in all four of its divisions – Cello, Violin, Piano and Composition – along with additional special prizes in multiple categories. This year’s competition, which received a record volume of applications, concluded September 27, 2024 with its Closing Concert at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest. For each of the instrumental divisions, prizes have been awarded to the top three finishers in the amounts of: First Prize – €15,000, Second Prize – €10,000, Third Prize – €5000. Prizes for the Composition division have also been awarded in three categories: for Symphonic Music, Chamber Music and Originality. Winners received a total of approximately €150,000 in cash prizes. First Prize winners in each division will also have the opportunity to perform alongside world-class orchestras in the 2025 edition of the George Enescu International Festival. The competition’s first-ever Masterclass in Conducting, led by Enescu Artistic Director Cristian Mӑcelaru, also honored its three top performers with conducting roles in the competition’s Closing Concert.

For the Piano Division, which held its final round on September 22, 2024, First Prize was presented to Ukrainian artist Roman Lopatynskyi, 31, performing Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major Op. 83, with Second Prize going to Russian Tatiana Dorokhova, 31, performing Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor Op. 15 and Third Prize to Russian Evgeny Konnov, 32, performing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor Op. 23. Finalists performed with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Christian Reif.

Additional prizes were awarded as follows: The €3000 Radu Lupu Prize for the best interpretation of a work by George Enescu went to Roman Lopatynskyi. The €2500 Constanța Erbiceanu Prize for the highest ranked Romanian competitor, named for the pioneering female pianist and co-founder of the Romanian Piano School, was awarded to Alexa Stier, 27. A €2000 prize for the Best Performance of the Imposed Work (Bulz for piano, by Diana Rotaru) was awarded to Tatiana Dorokhova, while an Audience Award of €1000 went to Evgeny Konnov.

Contestants were adjudicated by a jury of Lylia Zilberstein (President), Dana Borșan, Andrei Pisarev, Vovka Ashkenazy, Luiza Borac, Alexander Shtarkman and Sina Kloke, joined in the semi-final and final rounds by Martin Campbell White and Simon Trpčeski.

For the Violin Division, which held its final round on September 16, 2024, First Prize went to American Mayumi Kanagawa, 30, performing Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3. Second Prize was awarded to South Korean Hyeonjeong Lee, 13 – the youngest violin finalist by ten years – performing Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D major, while Third Prize went to Japanese artist Wakana Kimura, performing Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2. Finalists performed with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Alan Buribayev.

Mayumi Kanagawa was also awarded the €3,000 Stefan and Valentin Gheorghiu Prize for the best performance of a George Enescu Sonata. Hyeonjeong Lee was the winner of both the €1,000 Audience Award and the €2,000 prize for the Best Performance of the Imposed Work, B.A.C.H passacaglia for solo violin, by Vlad Maistorovici.

The violin jury comprised Dmitry Sitkovetsky (President), Mihaela Martin, Liviu Prunaru, Silvia Marcovici, Shlomo Mintz, Boris Garlitsky and David Halen, joined in the semi-final and final rounds by Doug Sheldon and Didier de Cottignies.

In the Cello Division finals, held September 10, 2024, First Prize was awarded to Japanese artist Yo Kitamura, 20, performing Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor. Second Prize was awarded to Italian artist Ettore Pagano, 21, performing Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1, with Third Prize going to American Haddon Kay, 24, performing the Dvořák concerto. Finalists performed with Romania’s National Radio Orchestra, led by Jonathan Bloxham.

Yo Kitamura was also the winner the €2,000 prize for the Best Performance of the Imposed Work (Syntrimma for solo cello, by Sebastian Androne-Nakanishi). Ettore Pagano won the €1,000 Audience Award, as well as the €3,000 Stefan and Valentin Gheorghiu Prize for the best performance of a George Enescu sonata.

The Cello Division was adjudicated by a jury of David Geringas (President), Leonid Gorokhov, Meehae Ryo, Valentin Răduțiu, Marin Cazacu, Enrico Dindo and Arto Noras, joined in the semi-final and final rounds by Charlotte Lee and Raimund Trenkler.

For the Composition Division, a prize of €10,000 was awarded for the top Symphonic Music submission to Australian Voltz Alexander, 25. A €7000 prize was awarded for the top Chamber Music submission to Italian Daniele Di Virgilio, 34, while an additional €5000 award went to Italian Santamaria Diego, 31 as a Special Prize for Originality.

The Composition jury comprised Zygmunt Krauze (President), Tim Benjamin, Dan Dediu, Adrian Iorgulescu, Doina Rotaru, Pascal Dusapin, Outi Tarkiainen, Jennifer Higdon, Magnus Lindberg, Gerard McBurney and Elsa Vautrain.

Along with cash prizes and performance opportunities, all prize winners have been offered national and international promotion and artistic launches through partnerships established by ARTEXIM – the competition’s organizer and an institution under Romania’s Ministry of Culture – with artistic management agencies and orchestras from Romania and abroad.

The Masterclass in Conducting, Instrumental Performance and In-Depth Music Study, led by Mӑcelaru in his first Enescu Competition as Artistic Director, also recognized its three top performers with conducting roles in the Closing Concert, held September 27, 2024. Omar el Jamali, 32 (Morocco) was selected to conduct the Romanian Youth Orchestra in Stravinsky’s L’Oiseau de feu Suite, while Eu Lee-Nam, 34 (South Korea) conducted Dan Dediu’s Elegia Minacciosa and Alex Amsel, 33 (United States) conducted Manuel de Falla’s Suite No. 2, El Sombrero de Tres Picos.

Held in alternating years with the George Enescu Festival, the George Enescu International Competition is part of a key Romanian cultural initiative organized by ARTEXIM. Out of a record 667 young musicians who applied to this year’s competition (9% of them from the United States), 149 competitors from more than 20 countries were selected to advance from the online “preselection” round to the live competition rounds in Bucharest. Concerts featuring distinguished jury members and special guests were held throughout the competition’s run from August 31 to September 27, 2024.

Under Mӑcelaru’s leadership, the competition introduced several new initiatives this year. In one key effort, all musicians who advanced to the live competition rounds in Bucharest were offered complimentary well-being sessions geared to the demands of high-level musicianship, comprising guidance on career development and healthy lifestyle choices, as well as community support and physical and mental health resources. The competition also forged partnerships to benefit social causes including the Special Olympics, the Motivation Romania Foundation and Climb Again, all organizations dedicated to helping people with disabilities live their fullest lives with adaptive equipment and access to athletic activities.

About the George Enescu International Competition
Organized for the first time in 1958, simultaneously with the George Enescu International Festival, the Enescu Competition operates as an international launching platform for future world-renowned musicians. Additionally, the Competition promotes the compositions of the great Romanian musician and composer among the new generation of artists worldwide, thus being a natural complement to the George Enescu International Festival, Romania’s most important international cultural event.

Since 2002, the Enescu Competition has been a member of the World Federation of Music Competitions, being the only classical music competition in Romania organized in accordance with the standards and status of the Federation. Starting in 2014, the Enescu Competition became a distinct event from the Festival and is organized every two years (alternatively with the years in which the Festival is organized).

George Enescu International Competition, cultural project financed by the Government of Romania through the Ministry of Culture, takes place under the High Patronage of the President of Romania, The Competition is organized by ARTEXIM, and each edition is supported by institutional partners and sponsors from the private, artistic, and academic environments.