Winners Announced at 2022 Queen Elisabeth International Cello Competition

Established in 1937 by Eugène Ysaÿe and Queen Elisabeth, the competition is held in Brussels, Belgium, and alternates each year between candidates in violin, piano, cello, and voice. The competition’s 2022 edition focused on emerging cellists and awarded Korean cellist Hayoung Choi first prize. As the first South Korean cellist to win the honor, she will receive €25,000 and multiple performance opportunites in Belgium and abroad.

A graduate of the Kronberg Academy, where she was taught by Frans Helmerson and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Choi has won first prize in the Krzysztof Penderecki Competition, International Johannes Brahms Competition, Antonio Janigro Competition, and the Justus Dotzauer Competition. As a soloist, she has played with the Kremerata Baltica, Camerata Salzburg, Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester, Kraków Philharmonic Orchestra the Olsztyn Philharmonic Orchestra, and Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra.

Second through sixth prizes were also awarded:

• Second prize: Yibai Chen (China)
• Third prize: Marcel Johannes Kits (Estonia)
• Fourth prize: Oleksiy Shadrin (Ukraine)
• Fifth prize: Petar Pejčić (Serbia)
• Sixth prize: Bryan Cheng (Canada)

Additional laureates include Jeremias Fliedl, Stéphanie Huang, Woochan Jeong, Taeguk Mun, Samuel Niederhauser, and Sul Yoon.

The finals took place at the Brussels Center for Fine Arts and each cellist performed a concerto of their choice and an unpublished work by Jörg Widmann with the Brussels Philharmonic and conductor Stéphane Denève.

Chaired by Gilles Ledure, the jury comprised Gautier Capuçon, Myung-Wha Chung, Natalie Clein, Roel Dieltiens, Anne Gastinel, Marie Hallynck, Frans Helmerson, Anssi Karttunen, Mischa Maisky, Antonio Meneses, Sharon Robinson, Jian Wang, and Sonia Wieder-Atherton.

Former prize winners include VC Artists Aurélien Pascal, Ivan Karizna, Brannon Cho, and Santiago Cañón-Valencia.

Amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Queen Elisabeth Competition as well as the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, allowed Russian artists to compete.