Semi-Finalists Announced at the 2022 George Enescu International Competition

Open to cellists, violinists, pianists, and composers born after 1989, the 18th edition of the George Enescu International Competition is underway.

After the success of the competition's hybrid edition in 2020/2021, the 2022 competition is similarly comprised of a virtual first round, followed by in-person semi-final and final rounds. Both in-person rounds will take place at the Romanian Athenaeum between September 4-18, 2022 and will be streamed here on The Violin Channel.

The Online Round of the 2022 Violin Section was held between May 6-23, 2022. 21 young violinists entered this section and twelve young musicians qualified for the Semifinals. In alphabetical order, they are:

• Stefan Aprodu (Romania)
• Takamori Arai (Japan)
• Kristina Besman (Russia)
• Heidi Hatch (Spain)
• Andrea Hughes (USA)
• Yoko Ishikura (Japan)
• Maria Marica (Romania)
• Joanna Ruseva (Bulgaria)
• Reika Sakamoto (Japan)
• Christian Sebastianutto (Italy)
• Ming-Chun Teng (Taiwan)
• Grégoire Torossian (France)

The Violin Semifinal will take place on September 10 and 11, 2022 and will feature works from Enescu’s output for violin: Sonata No. 2 for piano and violin in F minor op. 6, Sonata Bo. 3 for piano and violin in A minor op. 25 “Dans le caractère populaire roumain,” and Suite for violin and piano Op. 28 “Impressions d’enfance.” The final will be on Tuesday, September 13 and the three qualified competitors will be accompanied by the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by maestro Wilson Hermanto.

The Violin Section’s jury is comprised of Dmitry Sitkovetsky (President of the Jury), Remus Azoiței, Frank Huang, Paul Kantor, Simon James, Silvia Marcovici, Igor Petrushevski, David Grimal, and Krzysztof Wegrzyn.

The Online Round of the Cello Section was held between May 6-23, 2022. Eleven young musicians qualified for the Semifinals. In alphabetical order, they are:

• Sofia Blându (Romania)
• Constantin Borodin (Moldova / Romania)
• Maria-Izabela Ghergu (Romania)
• Goeunsol Heo (South Korea)
• Jisoo Kim (South Korea)
• Benjamin Kruithof (Luxembourg)
• Jiaqi Liu (China)
• Constantin Siepermann (Germany)
• Francesco Stefanelli (San Marino)
• Ileana Waldenmayer (Italy)
• Aihao Zheng (China)

The cello semifinal will take place on September 5 and 6, 2022. The cello semifinal will feature George Enescu's Sonata no. 2 in C major for Cello and Piano Op. 26 of George Enescu. The final will be on Thursday, September 8, 2022, when the three qualified competitors will be accompanied by the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by maestro Tito Muñoz.

The Cello Section Jury of the 2022 edition comprises of David Geringas (Chairman of the Jury), Natasha Brofsky, Marin Cazacu, Enrico Dindo, Leonid Gorokhov, Alexandra Guțu, Reinhard Latzko, Meehae Ryo, and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi.

The cello semi-finalists (Photo courtesy: George Enescu Festival / Facebook)

The in-person program will include 19 recitals and concerts, representing both competition stages and recitals by this year's jury members. The winners of the 2020/2021 competition, cellist Jaemin Han, violinist Valentin Șerban, and pianist Yeon-MinPark, will also return to the Athenaeum stage as soloists.

The competition is offering 120,000 EUR in total prize money, and the opportunity for the top prize winners in the piano, violin, and cello categories to perform with major international orchestras in the next edition of the George Enescu International Festival.

Leading arts management company Askonas Holt has partnered with the competition to provide the top prize winners with career guidance and mentorship on a non-exclusive basis for one year.

Former prize winners include Stefan Ruha, Claire Bernard, Alexandru Tomescu, Elisabeth Leontskaja, and Tian Bonian.