The George Enescu International Competition is a

music competition A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, solo (music), soloists, composers, conducting, conductors and musicologists. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are held to find p ...

for young pianists, violinists, cellists and composers, that takes place in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. It has helped launch the careers of many musicians, and among its list of first-prize winners are legendary pianists such as

Radu Lupu Radu Lupu (30 November 1945 – 17 April 2022) was a Romanian pianist. He was widely recognized as one of the greatest pianists of his time. Born in Galați, Romania, Lupu began studying piano at the age of six. Two of his major piano teach ...

, the winner in the 1967 edition. Other winners include Spanish pianist Josu De Solaun Soto,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

pianists

Elisabeth Leonskaja Elisabeth Leonskaja (born 23 November 1945) (In Russian: Елизавета Ильинична Леонская) is a Soviet and Austrian pianist. She was born to a family of Jewish and Polish extraction living in Tbilisi, then the capital of t ...

, in 1964, and

Dmitri Alexeev Dmitri Alexeev (russian: Дмитрий Константинович Алексеев, ''Dmitrij Konstantinovič Alekseev'', born 10 August 1947 in Moscow) is a Russian pianist. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory, and additionally under Dmitr ...

, in 1970.

Overview

The competition started in 1958, as part of the

George Enescu Festival The George Enescu Festival (also known as George Enescu International Festival and Competition), held in honor of the celebrated Romanian composer George Enescu, is the biggest classical music festival and classical international competition hel ...

, and celebrated its first five editions (1958, 1961, 1964, 1967, and 1970) in what was then the

Socialist Republic of Romania The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian Peop ...

. It was considered, by the countries of the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

, one of the most prestigious music competitions. Jury members included famous musicians such as

Claudio Arrau Claudio Arrau León (; February 6, 1903June 9, 1991) was a Chilean pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque to 20th-century composers, especially Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and B ...

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein ( pl, Artur Rubinstein; 28 January 188720 December 1982) was a Polish-American pianist.

, Magda Tagliaferro,

Guido Agosti Guido Agosti (11 August 19012 June 1989) was an Italian pianist and piano teacher. Agosti was born in Forlì in 1901. He studied piano with Ferruccio Busoni, Bruno Mugellini and Filippo Ivaldi, earning his diploma at age 13. He studied counterp ...

, Florica Musicescu,

Dmitri Bashkirov Dmitri Aleksandrovich Bashkirov (russian: Дми́трий Алекса́ндрович Башки́ров; November 1, 1931 – March 7, 2021) was a Russian pianist and academic teacher. Trained in his hometown Tbilisi and Moscow, he began an in ...

, Carlo Zecchi, and

Lazar Berman Lazar Naumovich Berman (russian: Ла́зарь Нау́мович Бе́рман, ''Lazarʹ Naumovič Berman''; February 26, 1930February 6, 2005) was a Soviet Russian classical pianist, Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1988). He was hailed for a ...

. Probably because of financial circumstances during Ceausescu’s dictatorship, the competition was abandoned in 1970, though it resumed twenty-one years later. The competition is a member of the World Federation of International Music Competitions in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

. The competition and prize-giving ceremony has historically taken place in the

Romanian Athenaeum The Romanian Athenaeum ( ro, Ateneul Român) is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest, Romania, and a landmark of the Romanian capital city. Opened in 1888, the ornate, domed, circular building is the city's most prestigious concert hall and ...

, with the mayor always traditionally attending.

Prize money

Cello, Violin and Piano prizes: * First prize – €15.000 * Second prize – €10.000 * Third prize – €5.000 Composition prizes: * Prize for symphonic music section – €10.000 * Chamber music section – €7.000 * Prize for originality – €5.000;

Winners

Piano section

Violin section

Silvia Marcovici Silvia Marcovici (born 30 January 1952) is a Romanian classical violinist. Born in Bacău, Romania, to a Jewish family, she studied at the Conservatory in Bucharest. Her international debut was at the age of sixteen when she performed in The Ha ...

(1970) * Alexandru Tomescu (1999) * Nemanja Radulovic (2001) * Valery Sokolov (2005) *

Anna Tifu Anna Tifu (born 1 January 1986) is an Italian classical violinist who has made an international career. She won the George Enescu International Competition in 2007. Career Anna Tifu was born to a Romanian father and Italian mother in Cagliari ...

(2007) * Jarosław Nadrzycki (2009) * Stefan Tarara (2014)

References

External links

* {{official, https://www.festivalenescu.ro/en/ Piano competitions Culture in Bucharest Events in Bucharest Music festivals in Romania 1958 establishments in Romania