Ottawa cellist Bryan Cheng wins 2nd prize at the Geneva International Music Competition
He also won the audience prize and the student prize, bringing his winnings to $19,630
Bryan Cheng, a 24-year-old cellist from Ottawa, has won second prize at the Geneva International Music Competition.
The announcement came on Oct. 28 following the competition's final round which saw three cellists performing with l'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under Georg Fritzsch.
Cheng, who won the OSM Competition in 2019 and the Bader and Overton Canadian Cello Competition in 2020, played Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor in the final. You can watch his performance beginning at 2:00:00 in the video below.
Cheng's second prize comes with a cash award of $16,250. He also won the student prize ($1,350) and the audience prize ($2,030), bringing his total earnings to $19,630.
First prize went to Japanese cellist Michiaki Ueno, 25; Jaemin Han, 15, from South Korea won third prize.
They were among 37 cellists aged 15 to 30 years old and representing 19 countries who were selected to take part in this 75th edition of the Geneva International Music Competition.
From that preliminary round, eight were selected to advance to the semifinal, and three to the final, by a jury comprising Ivan Monighetti, Thomas Demenga, Michaela Fukačová, Ophélie Gaillard, Clive Greensmith, Qin Li-Wei and Shauna Rolston.
In addition to the cash award, Cheng's second prize includes international concert engagements.
Cheng is half of Cheng²Duo, an ensemble he formed with his sister, pianist Silvie Cheng, who accompanied Bryan during some of his semifinal recital, which you can watch below.