Results announced at the 2026 Queen Elisabeth Cello Competition

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The final rounds of the 2026 Queen Elisabeth Cello Competition were held at the Salle Henry Le Boeuf, Brussels Centre for Fine Arts (Bozar) from 25 to 30 May 2027. Twelve finalists took to the stage throughout the week, each playing the competition’s imposed work, Four Odes to the Tidings of Flowers by Fang Man, along with their chosen concerto accompanied by the Belgian National Orchestra, conducted by Anthony Hermus.

First Prize - Queen Mathilde Prize of €25,000 was awarded to Ettore Pagano (23, Italy), who performed Prokofiev Sinfonia concertante op.125 in his final round. He also receives a four-year loan of the 1733 Matteo Gofriller ‘Casals’ cello, courtesy of the Pau Casals Foundation, plus numerous concert engagements in Belgium and abroad.

Pagano is currently studying at the Universität der Künste Berlin under Jens Peter Maintz, having received a bachelor’s degree from Santa Cecilia Conservatoire in Rome. His previous competition success includes the Premio Abbiati, ICMA Classeek Award and the ‘Una vita nella Musica - Giovani’ prize in 2025; Second Prize, the audience award and the prize for best sonata at the 2024 Enescu Competition; and First Prize, prize for best sonata and two special prizes at the 2022 Khachaturian Competition.

Tae-Yeon Kim (20, Korea) won Second Prize, awarded by the Belgian Science Policy (Belspo), worth €20,000. She also won the Klara Prize, based on vote by listeners of Klara and VRT Max, worth €2,500.

The Count de Launoit Third Prize of €17,000 was awarded to Leland Ko (28, US, Canada).

Fourth Prize, this year awarded by the Government of the French Community, was awarded to Álvaro Lozano Cames (20, Spain), worth €12,500. He also won the  RTBF Musiq3 Prize, based on vote by listeners of RTBF Musiq3, La Trois and Auvio, worth €2,500. 

Yo Kitamura (22, Japan) took Fifth Prize - Brussels-Capital Region Prize of €10,000, while Maria Zaitseva (24, Russia) took Sixth Prize - City of Brussels Prize, worth €8,000.

Each of the unranked laureates, Lionel Martin (23, Germany), Ivan Sendetsky (29, Russia), Clara Dietlin (24, France), Dilshod Narzillaev (28, Uzbekistan), Krzysztof Michalski (23, Poland) and Andrew Ilhoon Byun (28, Canada) received €4,000. 

The jury was chaired by Gilles Ledure and comprised Natalie Clein, Roel Dieltiens, Valentin Erben, Ophélie Gaillard, Anne Gastinel, Marie Hallynck, Gregor Horsch, Anssi Karttunen, Daniel Müller-Schott, Sharon Robinson, Jian Wang and Sonia Wieder-Atherton.