The Reine Elisabeth Competition in Brussels has announced the 12 finalists for the very first edition of the cello competition: Santiago Canon-Valencia (1995 Colombia), Brannon Cho (1994 United States of America), Sihao He (1993 China), Victor Julien-Laferrière (1990 France), Seungmin Kang (1987 Korea), Ivan Karizna (1992 Belarus), Maciej Kulakowski (1996 Poland), JeongHyoun (Christine) Lee (1991 Korea), Yan Levionnois (1990 France), Yuya Okamoto (1994 Japan), Aurélien Pascal (1994 France), Bruno Philippe (1993 France).
They will perform at the Brussels Centre for Fine Arts from 29 May until 3 June. For the first time in the final, Brussels Philharmonic will accompany the twelve finalists, conducted by its music director Stéphane Denève. On 3 June, the laureates will be announced at the end of the evening.
