Teenage Violinist Lee Hyun-jung Takes Third Place at the Long–Thibaud–Crespin Competition

Teenage violinist Lee Hyun-jung, 16, placed third at the prestigious Long–Thibaud–Crespin Competition.
The Kumho Cultural Foundation said on the 15th that Lee placed third in the final of the violin competition at the 2026 Long–Thibaud–Crespin Competition, held on the 14th (local time) at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, France. She performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the French Republican Guard Orchestra.
No first prize was awarded, while Francesco Pappa of Italy and Stefaniya Posepekhina of Russia tied for second place.
Born in 2010, Lee will receive, in addition to prize money of €12,000 (about 17 million won), invitations to around 10 music festivals around the world, including the Opéra de Monte-Carlo and the Royal Opera of Versailles.
Lee made her debut at the 2022 Kumho Prodigy Concert. In March this year, she won the Munetsugu Angel Violin Competition in Japan as its youngest-ever winner and received the Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra Award. She was also runner-up in the violin category and won two special prizes at the 2024 George Enescu International Competition.
Lee said, “The experience of competing alongside world-class performers and being able to perform on a beautiful stage in Paris will stay with me for a long time.”
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