Belgium’s Leonid Kogan Violin Competition Names Junior Division Winners

Junior prizewinners up to age 13 have been announced for categories one and two of the competition 

 

Now on its seventh edition, the 2023 Leonid Kogan Violin Competition began on May 18, 2023, in Brussels, and has announced its first and second category winners.

For its third and fourth senior division categories, the competition has been extended to June 11 (from the original date of June 8), due to the high number of participants.

Named for famed violinist Leonid Kogan, this competition launched in 2017 to discover rising star talents and to help to bolster their professional music careers.

Winners and joint winners in Category 1 for violinists aged up to nine years old:

First Prize:

• Tengying Ma, 8 (China) 
• Yubeen Choi, 9 (South Korea)

Second Prize:

• Yuchen Chen, 9 (China)
• Ohsawa Yurina, 9 (Japan)

Third Prize:

• Muqi Yuan, 9 (China)
• Weijing Hu, 8 (China)
• Kanon Ogura, 8 (Japan)

Fourth Prize:

• Shuyao Li, 7 (China)

Fifth Prize:

• Jeongin Seo, 8 (South Korea)
• Ngai Nam Eleanor Wong, 8 (Hong Kong)
• Shuwei Li, 7 (China)

Jury Special Mentions:

• Anna Hirosawa, 8 (Japan)
• Hanyu Wang, 9 (China)
• David Liam Alexander, 8 (Romania/USA)
• Wan Chi Ng, 6 (China), and youngest participant

 

Winners and joint winners in Category 2 for violinists aged between 10 to 13 years old are:

First Prize:

• Damhyun Kim, 11 (South Korea)
• Baiyi Tao, 12 (China)

Second Prize: 

• Jiwoo Son, 13 (South Korea)
• Yunduo Li, 12 (China)

Third Prize: 

• Zekai Chen, 13 (China)
• Sofia Rodriguez, 13 (Spain)
• Mingzhe Ye, 13 (China)

Fourth Prize:

• Amber Hu, 12 (Australia)

Fifth Prize:

• Ziyi Pei, 13 (China)
• Ngai Wan Evangeline Wong, 12 (Hong Kong)

Sixth Prize: 

• Yanyi Wu, 12 (China)
• Yu Hin Wong, 11 (China)

Jury Special Mentions:

• Ellie Malonzo, 13 (Australia)
• Mei Lanxi, 10 (China)
• Valentina Chen, 13 (USA)
• Alice Tong Wu, 10 (Australia)

 

Though first and second-category winners are not awarded cash prizes, all finalists receive diplomas for their participation. Additionally, all prize winners will receive a free yearly subscription to iClassical Academy, the competition’s new educational partner. 

The jury for all four categories comprised Karen Aroutiounian, Sergey Khachatryan, Ilya Grubert, Savva Fatkulin, Igor  Unterberg, Calvin Wong, Aram Gevorkian, Michael Vaiman, Eric Melon, Armen Harutyunyan, Valery Oistrakh, Vilmos Csikos, Igor Volochine, and Alexander Detisov.

A video about the competition can be viewed below.