George Enescu Competition opens registrations for 2022 edition

Young musicians can register for one of the four sections of the George Enescu Competition, which takes place every two years in Bucharest.

The competition runs four sections: cello, violin, piano, and composition.

The young musicians can register on the competition's website by April 15, 2022.

After a hybrid edition in 2020/2021, the organizers changed the competition's structure. The 18th edition will have one online stage, in May 2022, with the semifinals and finals scheduled to take place in Bucharest, at the Romanian Athenaeum, between September 3 and September 18, 2022. The competitors in the violin, cello, and piano sections who make it past the online stage will proceed directly to the semifinals.

The 18th edition will open at the Romanian Athenaeum on September 3, with a concert delivered by the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Peter Ruzicka. The orchestra will perform Karlo Margetic's An Axe for the Frozen Sea, a work awarded in the composition section at the previous edition. The program also includes Ludwig van Beethoven's triple concerto for violin, cello and piano, performed by winners of previous editions.

A total of 19 recitals and concerts are included in the program of the 2022 edition, covering both competition stages and recitals delivered by jury members. Furthermore, the winners of the 2020/2021 edition will return to the event as soloists.

The competition's finals will be conducted by Wilson Hermanto, principal guest conductor of Cameristi della Scala Orchestra (violin final), Tito Muñoz, musical director of Phoenix Symphony Orchestra (cello), and Case Scaglione, musical director of the National Orchestra d'Ile de France.

The competition awards prizes worth a total of EUR 120,000. The winners of the first prizes also receive the opportunity to perform in the following edition of the George Enescu Festival.

(Photo: Alex Damian, courtesy of George Enescu Competition)