Prizes Awarded at Belgrade's International Jeunesses Musicales Cello Competition

The final round of the competition was held recently, culminating in the announcement of two first prize winners: 19-year-old Joel Geniet from France and 20-year-old Vuk Simon Ovaskainen from Serbia/Finland. The second prize was not awarded while the third prize was given to 22-year-old Francesco Stefanelli from Italy.

A total of €10,000 was shared among the prize winners as part of the award fund. In addition, both Geniet and Ovaskainen received the Jeunesses Musicales International special prize of €2,500 each. All finalists were also awarded a silver coin by jeweller Dukati Srbije.

Geniet was also awarded the special award by Society for the promotion of music and culture – IMK Vienna. Ovaskainen was given the Kolarac Endowment award, for the best finalist according to the audience votes, the RTS Music Production and RTS Symphony Orchestra award, the best finalist according to the Orchestra votes, as well as the special award by the Union of Artistic Association and the academic painter Vesna Marković.

The 2022 competition jury comprised Sandra Belić, Dragan Đorđević, Meehae Ryo, Giovanni Gnocchi, Denis Severin, Tobias Stosiek, and Martina Schucan.