First prize for Xunyue Zhang

The prizewinners:

• 1st prize: Xunyue Zhang, China – donated by the International Salzburg Association (€10,000)
  
  
• 2nd prize: Yuki Serino, Italy – donated by Honorary Senator Sylvia Madsack (€7,000)
  
  
• 3rd prize: Maxim Tzekov, Austria/Bulgaria – donated by the Raiffeisenverband Salzburg (€5,000)
  
  
• Audience prize: Yuki Serino, Italy – donated by The Volpini de Maestri – O'Neill Foundation (€1,000)

Bjørg Pas, Norway, received the special prize of the International Society for Contemporary Music (IGNM) worth €1,000 for the best interpretation of a contemporary work by Sarah Nemtsov: cloud study skying for violin solo 

Bärenreiter Urtext Prize: the three music vouchers worth €300 each, donated by Bärenreiter-Verlag, went to Yuki Serino, Maxim Tzekov and Xunyue Zhang.

We warmly congratulate all the prize winners and thank our main sponsor, the City of Salzburg, as well as all sponsors and prize donors!

About the prizewinners

The first prize in the violin category, worth €10,000 and donated by the International Salzburg Association, which has supported the competition for many years, went to Xunyue Zhang. She impressed the jury in the final concert on 12th February with her performance of the Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 4 in D major, K. 218. Xunyue Zhang began playing the violin at the age of six. She won second prize and the Mozart Prize at the Henri Marteau Competition in 2023 and third prize and three special prizes at the Lipizer Competition in 2022. She was a semifinalist at the Joseph Joachim Competition in 2024 and the Tibor Varga Competition in 2025. She has performed as a soloist with orchestras in Germany, Italy, and China and has given recitals in Berlin and Shanghai. She has also participated in masterclasses in Kronberg and Villecroze. She studies at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin with Stephan Picard and plays a violin by Andrea Guarneri (1663), which is provided to her by the German Music Foundation.

The second prize of €7,000, donated by Honorary Senator Sylvia Madsack, went to Yuki Serino. She performed Mozart's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra No. 5 in A major, K. 219, in the final. Yuki Serino, born in Rome in 2006, began playing the violin at the age of two. She studied with P. Amoyal, G. Egger, and G. Carmignola after attending the Pre-College Programme at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. As the winner of the 2024 “Città di Cremona” competition, Yuki opened the Stradivari Festival with the legendary “Cremonese” from 1715. She has performed as a soloist in major concert halls in Europe, Japan, and the USA, and has worked with renowned musicians such as G. Carmignola, W. Coleman, L. Ferschtman, G. Gnocchi, I. Karizna, A. Lucchesini, D. Matheuz, and U. B. Michelangeli. Yuki is also interested in early music.

Maxim Tzekov was awarded third prize, worth €5,000, donated by the Raiffeisenverband Salzburg. As a soloist and chamber musician, Maxim Tzekov has performed at international concert halls such as the Musikverein in Vienna, the Philharmonie Luxembourg, and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, playing with Lukas Sternath, Jaemin Han, Julia Hagen, and others. He is the winner of the 2019 Kloster Schöntal International Competition, the 2021 Stephanie Hohl Competition, and the 2020 Alberto Lysy Competition (Gstaad). As a scholarship holder of the German Music Foundation, he plays a violin by G. B. Guadagnini “ex-Kingman,” Parma 1769. Since 2023, he has been studying with Ulf Wallin at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music in Berlin. Previously, he studied with Lieke te Winkel in Vienna. From 2023 to 2025, he was an academician at the Seiji Ozawa Academy Switzerland.

Bjørg Pas received the International Society for Contemporary Music (IGNM) Special Prize of €1,000 for the best interpretation of a contemporary work. The Norwegian violinist is currently studying at the Royal Academy of Music in London. As a former participant in the Barratt Due Young Talent Program, she has performed with leading orchestras such as the Oslo Philharmonic and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. She is an active soloist and chamber musician and winner of the 2025 Michal Spisak International Music Competition. She plays a Vuillaume violin from Beare's International Violin Society, which has been generously provided by a sponsor. She has also performed at festivals and renowned venues in Scandinavia and the UK.

The young artists were accompanied in the final concert by the Mozarteum University Academy Orchestra conducted by Ion Marin.

The piano category will begin on 13th February with 25 pianists from 15 countries. The final concerts and award ceremony will take place at 7.00pm on 19th February 2026 at the Mozarteum University.