George Enescu International Competition announces 2026 piano winners

South Korea’s 18-year-old Jeongwoo Lee took First Prize and five additional awards as the piano final brought the 20th edition of the Bucharest competition to a close.

South Korean pianist Jeongwoo Lee has won First Prize in the piano section of the 2026 George Enescu International Competition, completing a remarkable sweep that also saw the 18-year-old receive five special prizes.

Yiming Guo of China was awarded Second Prize, while Taiwan’s Pin-Hong Lin took Third Prize. The results followed the final at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest on 19 September, which concluded both the piano section and the 20th edition of the competition.

The three finalists performed with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Daniela Candillari. Lee played Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor, Op. 21; Guo performed Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C major, Op. 26; and Lin chose Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83.

Five additional prizes for Lee

Beyond the First Prize, worth €15,000, Lee received five further distinctions.

He won the Radu Lupu Prize for the best performance of a work by George Enescu, for his interpretation of the Suite No. 2 in D major, Op. 10, as well as the prize for the best performance of the compulsory work, Karim Al-Zand’s Hammers and Tongs.

Lee also received the Audience Prize and the Playing for Tomorrow Prize, offered by BRD – Groupe Société Générale.

His fifth additional distinction was the École Cortot Prize, which includes a recital at Salle Cortot in Paris during the 2028–29 season, as part of celebrations marking the hall’s centenary.

The competition noted the historical connection behind the award: Alfred Cortot and George Enescu were close friends and performed together, while Enescu taught at the École Normale de Musique de Paris during the 1930s.

An 18-year-old winner

Born in Seongnam, South Korea, in 2008, Lee is currently an undergraduate student at the New England Conservatory, where he studies with HaeSun Paik.

His previous competition successes include First Prize at the 2024 Ettlingen International Piano Competition. He also participated in the Morningside Music Bridge programme at the New England Conservatory on a full scholarship.

Guo, born in 2001, is pursuing postgraduate studies at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing with Danwen Wei. His previous distinctions include prizes at the Long-Thibaud Competition and Xiamen International Piano Competition.

Lin, also born in 2001, is pursuing an Artist Diploma at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music with Norman Krieger. His competition record includes prizes at the Paderewski, Hastings, Philadelphia and Maria Canals competitions.

An international jury

The piano results were decided by an international jury chaired by Lilya Zilberstein and including Nelson Goerner, Rena Shereshevskaya, Marie-Ange Nguci, Vovka Ashkenazy, Didier de Cottignies, Dana Borșan, Anthony Fogg and Raluca Știrbăț.

The Constanța Erbiceanu Award, presented to the highest-ranked Romanian competitor in the piano section, went to Inya-Maria Cutova.

First, Second and Third prizes in each of the competition’s three instrumental sections — cello, violin and piano — are worth €15,000, €10,000 and €5,000 respectively. Laureates are also offered concert and recital opportunities in Romania during the 2026–28 period, including appearances connected with future editions of the George Enescu International Festival and Competition.

A record edition

The 2026 George Enescu International Competition ran from 23 August to 19 September in Bucharest under the theme “In Pursuit of Excellence”.

Organisers reported a record 819 applications from 58 countries: 756 for the competition itself and 63 for its associated masterclasses.

The piano final at the Romanian Athenaeum brought the month-long event to an end, with Lee emerging not only as the section’s First Prize winner but as the recipient of six awards in total.