International Tchaikovsky Competition 2023 Winners Announced

South Korean violinist Gyehee Kim has won first place with cash prizes valued at $130,000

Now completing its 17th season, the International Tchaikovsky Competition occurs every four years for instrumentalists aged between 16 and 32 years, and for singers aged between 19 and 32.

Held from June 27-29, 2023, the final round for the violin division was held at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, while the cello finals were held at the Grand Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonia in the same period.

The Grand Prix prize is worth $100,000, and is awarded in addition to the first-prize cash award and Gold Medal of $30,000. Second place and the Silver Medal is at $20,000, while third place and Bronze Medal is worth $10,000.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth prizes along with diplomas are awarded at $5,000, $4,000, and $3,000, respectively.

In the violin division, first prize was awarded to Gyehee Kim (South Korea); second prize went to Ravil Islyamov (Russia); third prize was jointly awarded to Chaowen Luo (China), Daniil Kogan (Russia), and Elena Tarosyan (Russia); and fourth place was awarded to Yiying Jiang (China).

The Best Round 2 Contestant Diploma and Prize of $1,000 each went to Russian violinists Michael Usov and Inna Yakusheva. This year, no violinists were awarded the fifth and sixth prizes.

In the cello category, first prize was given to Lee Youngeun (South Korea), second prize went to Zaitseva Maria (Russia), and third prize was awarded to Park Sanghyeok (South Korea).

Sendetckii Ivan (Russia) took home the fourth prize, while the fifth and sixth prizes were awarded to Lee Dongyeol (South Korea) and Stepanov Vasily (Russia), respectively.

The $1,000 Best Round 2 Contestant Diploma and Prize for cello was awarded to Yeeun Kang of South Korea and Danila Vladyko from Russia.

The 2023 jury for violin comprised Viktor Tretiyakov, Kristóf Baráti, Yury Bashmet, Bin Huang, Zhiyong Liu, Pavel Milyukov, Lorenz Nasturica-Herschcowici, Vadim Repin, Alexey Shalashov, Wilfried Strehle, Eduard Tadevosyan, and Eduard Wulfson. 

The jury for cello comprised Suren Bagratuni, Alexandr Knyazev, Yuri Loevskiy, Wen Ma, Vladimir Perline, Alexandr Ramm, Kirill Rodin, Sergey Roldugin, and Alexander Rudin. 

For the full list of 2023 winners and contestants across the piano, violin, cello, voice, woodwind, and brass instrument categories, click here.