Two Winners Announced at Young Concert Artists' 2024 International Auditions

This year's winners will join the Young Concert Artists' roster — granting access to management, coveted career engagements, publicity, and career guidance

26-year-old Moldavian accordionist Radu Ratoi and 22-year-old Austrian pIanist Kiron Tellian have today been awarded first prize at the 2024 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions (YCA), in New York City.

As well as prestigious recital debuts in New York City and at the Washington D.C. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, throughout their three-year tenure both winners will also benefit from YCA’s connections with the industry’s managers, concert presenters, conductors of major orchestras, and financial supporters, as well as its long-standing reputation for discovering and furthering the careers of extraordinary young artists.

“It was a definitely a somewhat divided jury today,” YCA President Daniel Kellogg told The Violin Channel, after 90 minutes of deliberation. “We saw an absolutely outstanding range of performances today, but we as the jury decided to choose only the two individuals that we all had totally clarity on — Radu and Kiron were the two we agreed had the entire package,” he said.

Founded in 1961 by Susan Wadsworth, The Young Concert Artists International Auditions differ from a competition, as there are no rankings, and any number of winners can be selected — with each candidate competing against a standard of excellence, not each other.

The jury for the final round this year comprised YCA President Daniel Kellogg, YCA Founder Susan Wadsworth, pianists Inon Barnatan and Angela Cheng, violinists Barry Shiffman and Pamela Frank, violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama, flutist Marya Martin, soprano Dawn Upshaw, conductor Constantine Orbelian, Met Opera Vocal Coach Donald Palumbo, Chicago Symphony VP of Artistic Planning Cristina Rocca and Carnegie Hall Director of Artistic Planning Abhijit Sengupta.

Previous YCA recipients include Pinchas Zukerman, Ida Kavafian, Anne Akiko Meyers, Emanuel Ax, and Murray Perahia and VC Artists Paul Huang, Ray Chen, Stephen Warts, Zlatomir Fung, Xavier Foley and SooBeen Lee,

Full streaming of this year's Final Round of auditions is available now on The Violin Channel.