Ukrainian violinist Bohdan Luts has won the 17th Henryk Wieniawski International Violin Competition, which concluded in Poznań on Thursday. Luts’ first prize joins two prestigious competition victories already achieved before the age of 20.
Luts, born in Lviv in 2004, took first place ahead of China’s Jinzhu Li, who was awarded second prize, and South Korea’s SooBeen Lee, who came third. The three finalists were judged on their interpretations of violin concertos by Polish composer Henryk Wieniawski.
Bartłomiej Nizioł, chair of the jury, described the competition as “a true violin marathon”, acknowledging the difficulty of choosing between the finalists.
“We have to make these crucial decisions – decisions that are truly difficult, because we are evaluating art, remarkable individuals, and artists,” Nizioł said. “I would like to emphasise that there are no losers here. Thank you for these wonderful moments; you are all heroes. But someone had to win.”
Luts’ prize, which comes with a €60,000 award, consolidates his position among the most decorated young violinists of his generation. In 2023, aged 18, he won first prize at the Long-Thibaud International Violin Competition in Paris. A year earlier, aged 17, he had won first prize at the Carl Nielsen International Competition in Denmark.
Born in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, Luts studied at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland, where his teachers included Renaud Capuçon. He has also taken part in masterclasses with violinists including Gábor Takács-Nagy and Pinchas Zukerman.
He is currently studying at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna with violinist and teacher Boris Kuschnir.
Despite his youth, Luts has already appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the Copenhagen Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse.
Winners at the Wieniawski competition are expected to take on an extensive series of concert engagements over the next few months, performing with orchestras in Poland and elsewhere. This edition’s international tour includes appearances in Brazil, an Asian tour across China, Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines, as well as a string of concerts across Europe.
One of the most prestigious violin competitions on the international circuit, the first edition in 1935 counted Ginette Neveu, David Oistrakh and Ida Haendel among its laureates.
Luts is the fourth Ukraine-born violinist to take first prize, and the first for almost 50 years, since Vadim Brodsky in 1977. Other Ukraine-born first prize laureates were Roza Fajn and Igor Oistrakh, in 1957 and 1952.
For the competition’s other finalists, the competition’s platform is significant, and laureates of previous years have gained prominence regardless of final placement. At this level, judging performances is highly subjective, with distinctions being extremely fine.
