Budapest International Cello Competition

hu

08. - 14. Sep 2025

Budapest International Cello Competition

Budapest

Contestants

Alexandra Kahrer

Alexandra Kahrer is an Austrian cellist who has received numerous awards at national and international competitions. Most recently, in December 2024, she won First Prize at the International Grunewald Music Competition Berlin.

Ania Druml

Ania Druml first learned violoncello with Christophe Pantillon and from autumn 2019 on at the mdw in Vienna with Maria Grün. She began her concert studies in autumn 2021 with Reinhard Latzko. She also studied piano there with Alma Sauer, from 2018 with Vladimir Kharin and from 2022 concert studies with Stefan Vladar.

Antonia Straka

Antonia Straka was born into a Viennese family of musicians in 2002 and is now considered one of the most promising cellists of the young generation. In the 2023/24 concert season, she was presented as a featured artist of Jeunesse Austria.

Arne Zeller

Arne Zeller (born October 4th, 2006) started playing the cello at the age of six and at age 14 became member of the precollege class of Professor Peter Bruns at the “Hochschule für Musik und Theater Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” Leipzig while continuing high school. Since October 2024, he studies with Frans Helmerson at Kronberg Academy.

Caterina Isaia

Italian cellist Caterina Isaia was born in 2002 in a family of musicians. She is currently pursuing her Bachelor Degree at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar under the guidance of Professor Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.

Charlotte Miles

Born in Melbourne in 2002, Australian cellist Charlotte Miles captivates audiences with her “keen musical intelligence, assured technique and honeyed tone” (Sydney Morning Herald). Awarded over 100 Australian and international competition prizes, Charlotte was recently a semi-finalist at the 73rd International ARD Cello Competition in Munich in 2024, winning the special prize of the Mozart-Gesellschaft München.

Emma Van Schadewijk

Emma van Schadewijk (born June 1, 2003) began her cello studies at the age of 7. At 15, she was admitted to the Yehudi Menuhin School in England, where she studied with Matthijs Broersma, Bart LaFollette, and Una Cho.

Haddon Kay

Jinseok Jeong

LiLa

Born in 2002, LiLa began playing the cello at the age of seven. She studied with Professor Min Cao at the Music Middle School affiliated to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music at the age of nine. In 2016 she began to study in the Juilliard School Precollege division with Professor Richard Aaron and Sieun Lin.

Lionel Martin

“Apollonian-inspired sounds flinging their arms wide, hardly comprehensible in their beauty and spiritual depth,” the Südwest-Presse wrote about the cellist Lionel Martin. “A wonderfully sensitive artist with spontaneous reactions and great imagination,” is Anne-Sophie Mutter’s evaluation of the musician from Germany.

Michael Wehrmeyer

Born in Berlin in 2002, Michael Wehrmeyer discovered his passion for the cello at the age of five, inspired by his older sister’s violin playing. Listening to her often, his interest in music developed quite naturally.

Simon Tetzlaff

Simon Tetzlaff learned his craft from some of the most distinguished cellists and teachers, and is now offering his passion for music making to a variety of audiences worldwide. He is the recipient of the Janos Starker Foundation Competition Award of 2024.

Thomas Prechal

Already from a young age, cellist and composer Thomas Prechal (2004) has been grasped by every aspect of music: from playing the cello, to composing his own pieces, improvising on the cello and the piano, music theoretical analysis and the beauty of bringing people together with the music.

Woochan Jeong

Cellist Woochan Jeong, who gained significant attention in the music industry as a rising star by winning awards at prestigious international competitions, made an impact at the 2022 Queen Elisabeth International Competition by securing a placement.

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