Candidates Announced for 2017 Queen Elisabeth Cello Competition

The candidates have been announced for the 2017 Queen Elisabeth International Cello Competition - including VC Artist Benedict Kloeckner

The 70 candidates have today been announced for the inaugural 2017 Queen Elisabeth International Cello Competition, to be held in Brussels, Belgium, from 8th May to 3rd June, 2017 - including VC Artist Benedict Kloeckner.

The 2017 opening round candidates are:

• VC Artist Benedict Kloeckner (Germany)
• Mr Thomas-Michael Auner (Austria)
• Ms Julia Hagen (Austria)
• Mr Ivan Karizna (Belarus)
• Mr Bryan Cheng (Canada)
• Mr Sihao He (China)
• Mr Mo Mo (China)
• Mr Xin Shi (China)
• Mr Yu-Hsuan Feng (Taiwan)
• Mr Benjamin Lai (Taiwan/United States)
• Mr Mon-Puo Lee (Taiwan/Spain)
• Mr Santiago Cañón-Valencia (Columbia)
• Ms Beata Antikainen (Finland)
• Ms Sirja Nironen (Finland)
• Mr Alexandre Castro-Balbi (France)
• Mr Christoph Croisé (France/Switzerland)
• Mr Victor Julien-Laferrière (France)
• Mr Stanislas Kim (France)
• Mr Yan Levionnois (France)
• Mr Noé Natorp (France)
• Mr Aurélien Pascal (France)
• Mr Bruno Philippe (France)
• Ms Astrig Siranossian (France)
• Ms Friederike Luise Arnholdt (Germany)
• Ms Elia Cohen-Weissert (Germany/Israel)
• Mr Sebastian Fritsch (Germany)
• Mr Christoph Heesch (Germany/Japan)
• Mr Jonas Palm (Germany)
• Mr Johannes Przygodda (Germany)
• Ms Katarina Schmidt (Germany/Sweden)
• Mr Jakob Stepp (Germany)
• Mr Valentino Worlitzsch (Germany)
• Ms Irena Josifoska (Hungary/Serbia)
• Ms Ildikó Szabó (Hungary)
• Mr Haran Meltzer (Israel/USA)
• Mr Hideaki Fujiwara (Japan)
• Ms Ayano Kamimura (Japan)
• Mr Shizuka Mitsui (Japan)
• Mr Yuya Mizuno (Japan)
• Mr Yuya Okamoto (Japan)
• Ms Sayaka Selina (Japan/Switzerland)
• Ms Eun Cho (South Korea)
• Mr Min Suk Cho (South Korea)
• Ms Eun-Sun Hong (South Korea)
• Ms Hayeon Kang (South Korea)
• Ms Seungmin Kang (South Korea)
• Mr Daeyoun Kim (South Korea)
• Mr James Jeonghwan Kim (South Korea)
• Ms JeongHyoun Christine Lee (South Korea)
• Mr Un Lee (South Korea)
• Mr Joonho Shim (South Korea)
• Ms Jinkyung Won (South Korea)
• Mr Tomasz Daroch (Poland)
• Mr Wojciech Fudala (Poland)
• Mr Maciej Kułakowski (Poland)
• Mr Marcel Markowski (Poland)
• Ms Anastasia Kobekina (Russia)
• Mr Alexey Zhilin (Russia)
• Mr Victor Garcia Garcia (Spain)
• Mr Brannon Cho (United States)
• Mr John-Henry Crawford  (United States)
• Mr Rainer Crosett (United States)
• Mr Alexander Hersh  (United States)
• Ms Sujin Lee (United States)
• Ms Angela Park (United States)
• Mr Tony Rymer  (United States)
• Mr Tavi Ungerleider (United States)
• Ms Ariana Kashefi (United Kingdom)
• Mr Mansur Kadirov (Uzbekistan)
• Mr Dilshod Narzillaev (Uzbekistan)

The inaugural cello division is open to cellists of any nationality born after the 31st December 1986, who have completed their formal training and are ready to embark upon an international career.

“The decision to launch a new competition, dedicated to the cello, was a natural one, taken after meeting with a number of outstanding young cellists and against a background of worldwide enthusiasm for the instrument today…” Competition Secretary General Michel-Etienne Van Neste has told The Violin Channel.

The 2017 jury members will be announced on the 22nd March.

The 1st prize winner will receive €25,000 (US $26,000).

Moving forward the annual Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition structure will be adjusted from a 3 to a 4 year cycle – with Cello in 2017, Voice in 2018, Violin in 2019 and Piano in 2020.

PICTURED: 2017 Queen Elisabeth International Cello Competition Candidate, VC Artist Benedict Kloeckner, from Germany