Prizes were awarded to young violinists ranging in age from 8 to 22 over four categories
The ninth edition of the Leonid Kogan International Competition for Young Violinists was held in Brussels from 3 to 7 June 2025. The competition comprised four age categories, with cash prizes awarded in the two senior categories.
In the first category, for competitors up to the age of nine, the Grand Prize was awarded to nine-year-old violinist Akihito Ikeda from Japan. First prize went to another nine-year-old Japanese violinist Ray Yamagata, second prize to nine-year-old US violinist Freya Chen, third prize to nine-year-old Chinese violinist Xu Xiaoya, fourth prize to nine-year-old US violinist Ellie Liu, and fifth prize to nine-year-old Japanese violinist Kokona Fukusawa.
Finalist diplomas were awarded to Sophie Jin En Lee (9, Singapore), Pengfan Chen (8, China), Jing Yi Lee (8, Malaysia), Leo Puertas (9, Spain) and Qiaoxi Xue (9, China).
In the second category, for competitors aged 10 to 13, the Grand Prize went to twelve-year-old Albert Wei-Chen Chang of Australia/Taiwan. First prize was awarded to twelve-year-old violinist Yoojun Lee of Singapore/South Korea, joint second prize to eleven-year-old violinist Jacob Sun of the US and twelve-year-old Wen Baixun of China, and third prize to thirteen-year-old violinist Zihan Tang of China.
Finalist diplomas went to Ian Yan (10, Australia), Ho Hei Wong (13, China), Liu Xingyu (13, China), Asher Ng (13, Singapore), Ziqinq Ma (12, China), Zoe Shen (11, Canada) and Guo Youlin (10, China). Ian Yan also received the ‘Promising Talent’ Special Prize.
In the third category, for violinists aged 14 to 17, no first prize was awarded. Joint second prize of €600 went to 14-year-old Nicholas Xilang Feng of Australia and 14-year-old Ma Panxi of China. Joint third prize of €400 was awarded to 15-year-old Nikita Koller of Switzerland and 17-year-old Sofija Vasecka of Latvia.
Finalist diplomas went to Wei Yutong (17, China) and Lina Ahn (17, South Korea).
In the fourth category, for competitors aged 18 to 23, no first prize was awarded. Second prize of €1,000 was awarded to 22-year-old Portuguese violinist Alexandre Arutyunyan and third prize of €500 to 19-year-old Italian violinist Federico Nogarotto.
Finalist diplomas went to Ji Young Jang (20, South Korea) and Martino Colombo (21, Italy).
The jury was presided by Karen Aroutiounian and comprised Ilya Grubert, Savva Fatkulin, Igor Unterberg, Aram Gevorkian, Eric Melon and Armen Harutyunyan.
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