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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, musicologists or compositions. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are h ...
for young
pianists A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...
, violinists, cellists and composers, that takes place in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
,
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
. 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 teache ...
, the winner in the 1967 edition. Other winners include Spanish pianist Josu De Solaun Soto,
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
pianists
Elisabeth Leonskaja Elisabeth Leonskaja (born 23 November 1945) is a Georgia-born naturalized Austrian pianist. She made an international career after she won the Enesco International Piano Competition in Bucharest in 1964, and has lived in Vienna since 1978. Life ...
, in 1964, and
Dmitri Alexeev Dmitri Konstantinovich Alexeev (, ''Dmitrij Konstantinovič Alekseev'', born 10 August 1947 in Moscow) is a Russian pianist. He studied at the Moscow Conservatory, and additionally under Dmitri Bashkirov. In the 1970s Alexeev made his debuts in ...
, 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 (, RSR) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist One-party state, one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989 (see Revolutions of 1989). From 1947 to 1965, the state was ...
. It was considered, by the countries of the
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
, 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 and American pianist known for his interpretations of a vast repertoire spanning the baroque music, baroque to 20th-century classical music, 20th-century composers, especially B ...
,
Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher, conductor and composer. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organis ...
,
Arthur Rubinstein Arthur Rubinstein Order of the British Empire, KBE OMRI (; 28 January 1887 – 20 December 1982) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American pianist.
,
Magda Tagliaferro Magdalena Maria Yvonne Tagliaferro (19 January 18939 September 1986) was a Brazilian pianist of French parentage. Magdalena Tagliaferro was born in Petrópolis, Brazil. Her father, who had studied piano with Raoul Pugno in Paris, was a voice a ...
,
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 counter ...
,
Florica Musicescu Florica Musicescu (21 May 1887, Iași–19 March 1969, Bucharest) was a renowned Romanian pianist and musical pedagogue, daughter of the renowned composer, conductor and musicologist Gavriil Musicescu. She taught piano music for many decade ...
,
Dmitri Bashkirov Dmitri Aleksandrovich Bashkirov (; November 1, 1931 – March 7, 2021) was a Russian pianist and academic teacher. Trained in his hometown Tbilisi and Moscow, he began an international career as a soloist when he won the Marguerite Long Piano Co ...
,
Carlo Zecchi Carlo Zecchi (8 July 190331 August 1984) was an Italian pianist, music teacher and Conductor (music), conductor. Zecchi was born in Rome. A pupil of F. Baiardi for piano and of L. Refice and A. Bustini for composition, he began his career as a co ...
, and
Lazar Berman Lazar Naumovich Berman (, ''Lazar Naumovich Berman''; February 26, 1930February 6, 2005) was a Soviet Union, Soviet Russian European classical music, classical pianist, Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1988). He was hailed for a huge, thunderous t ...
. 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 The World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC) is an organization based in Geneva, Switzerland that maintains a network of the internationally recognized organisations that aim to discover the most promising young talents in classi ...
in
Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
. The competition and prize-giving ceremony has historically taken place in the
Romanian Athenaeum The Romanian Athenaeum () 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 home of the "Geor ...
, 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


Cello section


Composition


References


External links

* {{Authority control Piano competitions Violin competitions Conducting competitions Culture in Bucharest Events in Bucharest Music festivals in Romania 1958 establishments in Romania