Eighteen-year-old South Korean pianist Jeongwoo Lee has won the piano section of the George Enescu International Competition in Bucharest, taking first place and five special awards. The final took place at the Romanian Athenaeum on 19 September; the result was subsequently announced by the organisers and covered by Romanian media on 21 September.

Lee performed Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor. China’s Yiming Guo finished second after performing Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto, while Taiwan’s Pin-Hong Lin took third with Brahms’s Second.

Lee’s additional distinctions included the €3,000 Radu Lupu award for an Enescu performance, €2,000 for the compulsory work, the €1,000 audience award and the €1,500 Playing for Tomorrow prize.

He also received the École Cortot award, offering a recital at Paris’s Salle Cortot during its 2028–29 centenary season. That prize reconnects the competition with Enescu’s own French musical associations: he worked closely with Alfred Cortot and taught at the École Normale de Musique de Paris during the 1930s. Romania Insider’s report.

The finalists appeared with the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra under conductor Daniela Candillari. An international jury chaired by pianist Lilya Zilberstein selected the winners.

First prize in each instrumental section carries €15,000, with €10,000 for second place and €5,000 for third. Romanian pianist Inya-Maria Cutova received the Constanța Erbiceanu prize for the highest-ranked Romanian participant in the piano section.

The 20th edition ran from 23 August to 19 September. Organisers reported a record 819 applications from 58 countries: 756 for the competition and 63 for associated masterclasses.

Awards extend beyond cash. ARTEXIM is offering laureates concert and recital opportunities at future Enescu events and with partner institutions during 2026–28. The network includes orchestras across Romania and the National Chamber Orchestra in Chișinău, Moldova. Individual mentoring is also intended to help instrumental laureates develop their international careers. The organisers’ results and awards announcement.

The result gives the young winner both immediate recognition and future engagements. For the Romanian competition, those performance opportunities provide a practical connection between an international contest in Bucharest and concert life across the wider region.