First Prize Not Awarded at the Leonid Kogan International Violin Competition

Hao Li and Rui Yuan, both of China, shared Second Prize in the competition's top category

The seventh edition of the Leonid Kogan International Violin Competition, which took place between May 18 and June 11, recently come to a close. Due to ongoing concerns regarding the impact of the pandemic, the competition took place entirely online and will return to its original, in-person format in Brussels in 2024.

In 2023, the jury opted not to award First Prize in either of the senior categories. In Category Four (18-23 years), Hao Li and Rui Yuan (both from China) shared Second Prize, and Third Prize was not awarded.

Something similar happened in Category Three (14-17 years old), with Andrea Lam of China and Gaeun Kim of Korea sharing Second Prize, and Third Prize going to Corina Deng of Canada.

For the junior categories, in Category Two (10-13 years), Damhyun Kim (Korea) and Baiyi Tao (China) shared First Prize, with Second, Third, Fifth, and Sixth Prizes also being shared by at least two violinists.

In Category One (9 years and below) Tengying Ma (China) and Yubeen Choi (Korea) shared First Prize.

The jury was comprised of Karen Aroutiounian (chair), Sergey Khachatryan, Ilya Grubert, Savva Fatkulin, Igor Unterberg, Ho Kei Calvin Wong, Aram Gevorkian, Michael Vaiman, Eric Melon, Armen Harutyunyan, Valery Oistrakh, Vilmos Csikos, Igor Volochine, and Alexander Detisov.

You can watch recordings of both Second Prize winners below.

Hao Li performed Paganini's Caprice No. 17:

Rui Yan performed Ysaÿe's Sonata No. 6 for solo violin: