Dmytro Udovichenko, a 25-year-old from Kharkiv, won the prestigious violin competition in Brussels. He became the first Ukrainian to take first place in the Queen Elizabeth Competition.
Previously, Ukrainians won prizes in this competition of academic musicians. For example, in 2015, the laureate of the second prize among violinists was Oleksiy Semenenko. Also in 2022, cellist Oleksiy Shadrin took fourth place. However, the Ukrainian managed to bypass all rivals and win only this time.
The final of the competition fell precisely on Dmytro Udovichenko’s birthday. For the competition, he chose to perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto.
During the awarding ceremony of the winners, the Ukrainian violinist refused to shake the hand of the Russian Vadym Repin, who was a member of the competition jury. Repin’s wife is a member of Putin’s United Russia party. She supported the invasion of the Russian army on the territory of Ukraine. Repin himself received the title of People’s Artist of Russia from Vladimir Putin in 2022.
The Queen Elizabeth Competition is one of the most prestigious competitions among academic musicians in the world. The competition has been held in Brussels annually since 1951. Queen Mathilde of Belgium attends the competition annually. The Belgian royal family supports the music competition.
