11-year-old Jayden King becomes youngest winner in Enescu Competition history

The American violinist won First Prize in the 2026 competition’s Violin Section, as well as the Audience Award and the prize for the best performance of the required work.

American violinist Jayden King, aged 11, has won First Prize in the Violin Section of the 2026 George Enescu International Competition, becoming the youngest winner in the competition’s history.

King also received the Audience Award and the prize for the best performance of the required work, Still Life with Fallen Stone by Lembit Beecher. Italian violinist Francesco Papa, 20, took Second Prize, while South Korea’s Eun Che Kim, 28, was awarded Third Prize.

The final took place on 13 September at the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest, with the three finalists performing alongside the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Harry Ogg. King played Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major, while Papa and Kim both performed Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in D minor.

Born in the United States, King began studying the violin at three and entered the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School at seven, where he studies with Masao Kawasaki. He made his orchestral debut at six and has since appeared as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Merkin Hall. Earlier in 2026, he won Second Prize at the Henri Marteau International Violin Competition and the Goldene Note competition.

Papa also received the Ștefan and Valentin Gheorghiu Award, worth €3,000, for the best interpretation of a George Enescu sonata. First Prize in each of the Enescu Competition’s three instrumental sections carries €15,000, with €10,000 for Second Prize and €5,000 for Third.
Founded in 1958, the George Enescu International Competition is one of Romania’s principal international classical music competitions and is held in Bucharest alongside the broader George Enescu Festival tradition. The 2026 edition attracted 819 entries from 58 countries and territories and runs through 19 September, with the Piano Section still to be completed.